Nigeria Retains Hosting Rights For 2027 Africa Running Conference After Successful Lagos Debut

Nigeria will once again take centre stage in African athletics after securing the rights to host the 2027 Africa Running Conference in Abuja.

The decision follows the widely praised maiden edition of the event, staged in Lagos earlier this week, and signals growing confidence in the country’s ability to deliver high-level continental sporting gatherings.

Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, confirmed the development in an interview with Punch shortly after the end of this year’s edition at the Eko Hotel. He framed the retention of hosting rights as part of a deliberate effort to recalibrate and strengthen Nigeria’s sports sector.

“The recent conference has been very successful, and plans for the 2027 edition have already been offered without hesitation. We are confident it will expand and become even greater for Africa,” he said.

According to Dikko, attracting major international events is not incidental but central to the commission’s long-term blueprint for repositioning Nigerian sport on the global map. He stressed that the discussions and technical exchanges held in Lagos would have a lasting impact, particularly in the area of road running.

“We are particularly focused on road running because we believe Nigeria has the capacity, if we are intentional and deliberate, to excel,” Dikko stated.

The Africa Running Conference, held on February 12 and 13 ahead of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, gathered global athletics administrators, race organisers and policymakers for two days of intensive workshops and strategy sessions.

The programme explored sustainability, innovation and grassroots expansion, with a strong emphasis on building a commercially viable future for African road running.

Among the high-profile speakers were former marathon world record holder Paul Tergat, World Athletics Head of Running Alessio Punzi, Vice President of Kenya Athletics Fatma Abdal Amale, and World Athletics Vice President and Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei.

Dikko also linked the conference to broader economic ambitions. He argued that hosting global events helps sustain infrastructure, stimulate the sports economy and create employment.

He disclosed that sports initiatives in 2025 alone generated 140,000 jobs, while the conference itself boosted short-term economic activity for vendors, service providers and participants.

Addressing critics who had dismissed the commission’s agenda as talk without action, Dikko pointed to recent federal acknowledgement of the sector’s progress.

“Last Friday, exactly a week ago, President Bola Tinubu personally tweeted the achievements of the sports sector in 2025. Such recognition is unprecedented in any other sector,” he said.