Barely 24 hours to the kick off of the Oregon 2022 World Athletics Championship in Eugene, United States, Africa’s fastest man from Kenya, Ferdinand Omanyala, faces a race against time for an American visa so he can compete at the global track & field showpiece.
Similarly, some Nigerian coaches and four accredited Nigerian sports journalists may not be part of the event due to their inability to the secure visas at the American Embassy in Lagos and Abuja.
The Oregon 2022 World Championship will run from tomorrow, July 15to 24.
Omanyala, who won the African 100m title last month in Mauritius, is due to race in the heats tomorrow (Friday) at the global event in Eugene, Oregon.
“Sad that I haven’t travelled to Oregon yet and 100m is in two days. Visa delays!!” the 26-year-old Kenyan sprinter posted on Instagram yesterday.
“I am still hopeful. If I make it to the starting line, it will be fireworks. I thrive on setbacks,” he stressed with enthusiasm in the social media post
Some of the affected Nigerian officials and journalists were said to have met the necessary requirements, including paying their visa fees of $160 respectively since April.
“Some of us made payment for visa fees far back in April, only to be given appointment date for March 2024,” one of the affected officials lamented
at the National Stadium in Lagos yesterday.
“I don’t know why the U.S. embassy in Nigeria will allow touts to control appointment dates. Before American government accepted to host this World Athletics Championships, I expected their embassy around the world to treat the athletes, coaches and accredited journalists with respect. I am sure this kind of treatment won’t be meted to athletes, officials and journalists from Great Britain, Germany and Australia. This may affect Nigerian athletes in Oregon,” observed the official as he showed this reporter his ticket booked for tonight flight.
Another official hinted also on Wednesday that the AFN/Sports Ministry got a Note Verbale through the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the affected persons only for the U.S. embassy to reject a majority of the names insisting that only those having Diplomatic passport and Blue passport would be honourned. “They said no to those with Green passport,” the official stated.
Efforts to speak with officials of America embassy in Lagos on Wednesday were unsuccessful.