The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) has mandated the random testing of its players for illegal drugs. All 20 clubs have been instructed to make this process easier for the National Anti-Doping Committee’s agents.
Two players from each of the clubs participating in a particular match will have their anti-doping tests conducted without prior notice, according to a memo to clubs signed by Chief Operating Officer Davidson Owumi.
The clubs were instructed to provide the Anti-Doping agency with their fullest cooperation in order to complete the task of purging the NPFL of any confirmed or suspected doping scandals.
“Recall our earlier memo informing all clubs of the commencement of random drug test on Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) players and be further informed that we have now completed all processes for its implementation by the National Anti-Doping Committee,” Owumi wrote in the circular, reminding the clubs of the initiative to introduce random tests.
The statement “a Doping Control Systems office is to be activated at all NPFL stadium for this purpose and all clubs are therefore mandated to ensure a hitch free test by the Committee” further enumerates some of the requirements that must be met by the clubs in order for the doping checks to be fully implemented.
The memo continued, “Note that relevant operatives of the National Anti-Doping Committee would be arriving your matches for this exercise without prior notice except for purposes of access to the stadium and for your players to submit to the test when demanded,” emphasizing that the Test Operatives must not be impeded in their work.
Samples from two (2) of each team’s four players are collected for the test. In accordance with the FIFA Anti-Doping Rules and the International Standard for Testing and Investigation, the four (4) players will be chosen through target testing.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), the CAF, and FIFA all have a zero-tolerance policy for doping, which the NPFL maintains it set out to carry out.
Recently, test kits were delivered to the nation, and a few personnel have since received training on how to use them.
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