The Honourable Minister of Sports Development Senator John Owan Enoh salutes President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for placing a premium on the National Anti-Doping Bill , thereby giving the Nation a reputation.
The transmission of the Anti-doping Bill 2024 to the National Assembly and the accelerated passage of the same remains a landmark achievement of this administration.
It is a show of the courageous and bold leadership of the president, a final and appropriate response to the perennial issues of doping that have characterized Nigeria’s relationship with the World Anti-doping Agency, WADA.
The sports minister always made it clear that this administration was greeted with WADA issuing a notice to ban Nigeria from International Competitions which degenerated to the point that the agency took Nigeria to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).
Amidst other non-compliant issues, the main challenge was Nigeria’s inability to domesticate the National Anti-doping Law and setting up a National Anti-Doping Organization (NADO) as part of its obligation having signed the international convention in 1999.
This welcome development comes weeks before the country’s participation at the Paris Olympics 2024.