Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, A Case of Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

Growing up way back, it was usually common to hear people using the idiom: Do not rob Peter to pay Paul, especially when a party feels shortchanged by the other. This idiom is still very much relevant in our day to day activities and will not be phasing out any time soon.

The Macmillan dictionary explains the idiom to mean taking money that was intended for one particular thing and spending it on something else. However, Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), added an icing to the idiom by justifiably stating that: “A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul,” and probably leave Peter out of it, (sic).

Nothing best describes the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon than a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Else, how does one explain to any right thinking person that ever since the company initiated the marathon, which is said to be part of their CSR initiatives for sustainable development in the Nigerian environment in 2016, that no Nigerian has ever won it. 

In 2016, when Access Bank partnered the Lagos State Government to successfully host the maiden edition of the marathon, the aim was to provide strategic support in the area of sports whilst promoting healthy and active living through fitness and exercise. It was the first ever full marathon in Nigeria since 1985. The event which was approved by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), endorsed by the International Association of Athletics (IAAF) and tagged “Running from the Old to the New”, drew athletes from across the globe whilst showing the emergence of a modern city and multifaceted developments the state has witnessed since the last marathon over 30 years ago.

The 42-kilometre race commence from the National Stadium on Funsho Williams Avenue, and goes through Barracks to Ojuelegba on the main carriageway, through Dorman Long Bridge to Fadeyi on Ikorodu Road to Obanikoro to Anthony to Gbagada to Third Mainland Bridge to Osborne Road to Alfred Rewane (Old Kingsway) Road to Falomo Roundabout to Bourdillon Road to Cable Bridge (Ikoyi – Lekki Link Bridge) to Admiralty Way to Lekki First Roundabout to Lekki Tollgate to Ozumba Mbadiwe Road to Akin Adesola Street to Bishop Oluwole Street and terminating at Eko Atlantic City.

That 2016 maiden edition saw Kenya’s Abraham Kiptum winning the race, a feat he repeated in 2017. In 2018, France-Kenyan national, Abraham Kiprotich won; in 2019 Ethiopian national, Sintayehu Legese won. In 2020, Kenyans took it back as David Barmasai won. In 2021, Kenya’s Emmanuel Naibei won. Last year, 2022, Ethiopian Geleta Ulfata carted away the gold-label price and just this last Saturday, another Kenyan, Edwin Kibet won the $50,000 prize money. Same situation applies to the women category. Not even a single Nigerian also in the women category.

Now, the justifiable question on the lips of Nigerians is: Who exactly is the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon meant for? Who benefits from the Marathon and who is being shortchanged? The only thing that any Nigerian participant has ever received from the marathon is a race vest, with finishers receiving medals and certificates of participation, which really do not add value. Meanwhile the tax office is seeing it as meriting a tax rebate while the benefits go to different countries entirely. This explains the justiciability in Bernard-Shaw’s assertion that “A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” In other words, since all the accruing benefits of the marathon go to foreign countries, we can boldly say that Access Bank should commonsensically depend on those foreign countries that benefit from their marathon, for their banking services patronage and the rest.

Though Access Bank has subsidiaries in several other countries such as Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Gambia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Zambia and the United Kingdom, its corporate headquarter is in Lagos, Nigeria, implying that Lagos is the mother of their businesses and where they generate majority of their funds. So, it won’t be wrong to say, without mincing words too, that their primary responsibility should be to Nigerians, first before others, since they are the ones who provide the environment for the smooth operation and sustainability of their business.

But people are also asking, how exactly does Access Bank feel, seeing that ever since the inception of their marathon in Nigeria, no Nigerian has ever won it? What measures have they put in place to at least, save Nigerians the embarrassment of having outsiders cart away what should have rightfully belonged to them? What about funding the training of athletes in Nigeria which can also serve as an increase CSR intervention in sports.

According to a report by CNN, most of the Kenyan runners who dominate marathons worldwide train and live in the high-altitude Rift Valley. Training at high altitudes, the report stated, contributes to a running dominance that makes running at lower elevation a child’s play. “There is a widespread belief in the athletic community that altitude training can enhance sea level athletic performance, with at least three independent studies demonstrating that altitude training increases both sea level maximal oxygen consumption and running performance,” CNN report stated.

The Access Bank Lagos City Marathon is conducted in partnership with the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and some other sponsors. Why is Access Bank and the AFN not planning or thinking in the line of sponsoring some Nigerian athletes on a training to Iten, one of the towns that produces elite runners, which is said to sit nearly 8,000 feet above sea level in western Kenya? This will make Nigerians to stop seeing the race as a mere formality but rather as something they can identify with. And that way, it will be seen as a sustainable responsibility project that is aimed at improving the socioeconomic wellbeing of Nigerians.

Beyond the individual organizational benefits of carrying out CSR projects, one of the drivers of CSR initiatives all over the world, is that it attracts tax incentives from governments and increases organisation’s available funds. This increase in organisation’s available funds, if not used for firm’s CSR initiative, but paid into government’s coffers as tax deductions, would have been channeled into provision of basic infrastructural amenities for the masses.