Unless something happens between now and Wednesday, Nigeria may not participate in the 2025 World Relays scheduled to hold in Guangzhou, China, on May 10 and 11.

Members of Team Nigeria are expected to leave for the venue on May 5, but a top official of the National Sports Commission (NSC) told The Guardian that as at yesterday, the athletes and their officials have not been issued visas to enter China.

He said apart from the home-based athletes, the stars coming from the United States and other places are facing the same problem, “which is not the fault of the team.”

“The organisers are insisting that they will work on only a list of participants sent by the World Athletics, instead of the delegation’s list we forwarded to them. This is unlike what happened during the World Indoors.

“I understand that most of next week are public holidays, which means that the team must get the visas on Friday (today) or through a special arrangement to make the trip on May 5,” he said.

He added that women’s 100 metres runner, Favour Ofili and men’s 200m specialist, Udodi Onwuzurike could be out of the relays “because they did not submit their passports to the Athletics Federation of Nigeria.”

He added: “Ofili is more interested in the Athletics Grandslam in Miami, where she stands to win $100, 000 than running in the relays.”