Nigeria Reinstated by WADA after Period of Non-compliance

Nigeria has been reinstated by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) following a short period of non-compliance.

The Nigerian National Anti-Doping Committee (NNADC) was declared non-compliant by WADA in November because of structural issues related to its testing procedure.

In a statement, WADA confirmed the issues had now been corrected and the country had been removed from the list of non-complaint signatories.

“This non-compliance became effective on December 6, 2018, after the NNADC chose not to challenge the assertion of non-compliance,” WADA said.

“Since then, the NNADC has implemented the corrective measures required to address its non-compliance, in cooperation with the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS).”

The NNADC will now continue to work with SAIDS and WADA to “further enhance its programme”.

The lifting of the sanctions on Nigeria was confirmed following a circular vote of the 12-member WADA Executive Committee, which has the final say on issues of compliance.

WADA said at the time the non-compliance was announced that it was confident Nigeria would resolve its problems quickly and that the NNADC’s non-compliance would be short.

North Korea was recently declared non-compliant by WADA after the country failed to address problems with its drugs-testing programme.

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency avoided further punishment last month despite missing a deadline to provide WADA with access to data at the Moscow Laboratory – although the organisation did so 10 days later – and remains compliant with the code.