The tasks before new sports federations’ boards

In spite of the controversies and high wire intrigues that dogged the build-up to the elections into the various sporting federations held at the Main Bowl of the National Stadium, Abuja, last Tuesday, the exercise was conducted under the auspices of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Expectedly, the polls were almost marred by some aggrieved contestants who felt they had been short-changed. Consequently, there was a near breakdown of law and order as some contestants engaged in a free-for-all to register their grievances up to a point that security operatives at the venue had to intervene. Some key contestants and electorate were reportedly manhandled by the police on duty.

Many contestants and stakeholders had accused the Minister of Youth and Sports, Barr. Solomon Dalung, of interfering with the pre-election process with a view to planting his preferred candidates in the federations. The minister desperately denied the allegations, while insisting that his ministry would ensure that those who have perpetuated themselves in various federations would be shown the door in a free and fair exercise.
However, to address the complaints, a committee was set up to look into the petitions of the contestants. About four federations were affected and by-elections have been slated for Friday, this week.

We cannot question the interest of the ministry in the whole process when viewed against the fact that the buck stops on the minister’s table. The step taken by the ministry to ensure that deadwoods were not recycled into the new federations might not have gone down well with those whose ultimate ambition is to be at the helms of affairs with little or nothing to offer for the growth and development of Nigerian sports. But this should not have been at the expense of putting round pegs in round holes as alleged by the aggrieved contestants.

Undoubtedly, the sporting federations are the bodies charged with the day-to-day administration of the nation’s sports. They hold the keys to the success of our sports… which is the reason why only tested technocrats with integrity are needed on board.
Available records have shown, beyond the continent of Africa, that our sporting standards are nothing to match our claim as the leading black nation. This is largely due to the fact that square pegs are put in round holes. Usually, most of the people who gun for positions in the federations’ boards have their eyes on what benefits they can derive from their membership rather than the desire to serve.

Those ones also see the federations as a means to remain in or gain prominence, junket abroad and amass estacodes. It, therefore, goes without saying that those who get into the federations’ leadership through unfair means are bound to undo our sports rather than move them forward.
Close observers of the nation’s sports are in agreement with the fact that successive administrations in the country have not been helpful to our sports, especially since the return of democratic governance in 1999.

So far, the Sports Ministry has been run by no fewer than 10 ministers from diverse backgrounds. The federal government sees the ministry as a comparatively less important component of its administration which can be run by anyone with little or no sporting background. In other climes where sports management is taken as the serious business that it is, men and women of proven integrity who know their onions are placed in charge of the business. The nation cannot be doing the same thing all the time and expect different results. Even the nation’s sports flagship, the biennial National Sports Festival, has been kept in limbo after the 2012 edition staged in Lagos. The objective of the festival is to discover raw talents to be groomed for international events.

There are many areas of the nation’s sports which need to be revitalised at this time. The abandoned sporting facilities in different parts of the country such as the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, the Afuze Games Village in Edo state and the High Altitude Training Centre in Kuru, near Jos, if made functional, will serve as catalysts for our sports development.
It is gratifying to note that new helmsmen and women have been put in place ahead of the Commonwealth Games billed to take place in Australia in April 2018 and the 2020 Olympic Games slated for Japan. Nigeria’s participation in the two global jamborees have been nothing but impressive in recent years. It is the poor management of our sports that has caused medal-winning Nigerian athletes to switch their nationalities to countries like Britain, Germany and the United States where the environment is very conducive for the advancement of their career.

Government at all levels should pay more attention to sports. Besides being an instrument to foster friendship and unity among Nigerian youths, it is also a means of equipping those with potential to ply their trades outside the shores of the land.
The new federations’ leaderships are expected to use their influence to attract sponsorships to prosecute their programmes as government alone cannot fund sports.

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