The Nation Newspaper

Category: Ade Ojeikere

  • Template for Nigeria sports

    Template for Nigeria sports

    Sports is business for those who know the inner workings of the evolving industry. Sports is the biggest Public Relations (PR) tool used by those who know its dynamics to change the perception of people towards their trades. Sports has interestingly left the realm of recreation to wealth creation – certainly not for jokers to comprehend.

    Little wonder the curriculum vitae of those who run sports in other climes speaks what they churn to give sports the fillip of growth anchored on solid marketing plans to generate revenue to run the industry without depending wholly on government for cash to oil their works. These civilised countries have, by the master-plans, ensured that government’s input on sports is purely around the provision of good facilities, grounds and a healthy environment for sporting activities.

    Sports belongs to the youth, making it only proper that its growth is situated in the neighbourhood with the provision of facilities with one objective in mind – catch the talents when they’re truly young. Indeed, this neighbourhood arrangement ensures that there are data bases to capture their details, such that the very talented ones are groomed, exposed to bigger competitions and the trajectory of their growth monitored from being rookies to professionals in their respective sporting endeavours.

    These civilised sporting nations don’t just throw their talents and/or discoveries recklessly into the fray. They get them coaches, games masters and mistresses to train on the rudiments of the games and how to compete favourably in international sporting activities such the Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games, the World Cups etc, having secured sponsors to bankroll their sporting activities from cradle to greatness or should I say stardom.

    They also encourage athletes who want to pursue their education alongside playing their different sports. This is not forgetting the insurance policies available to them to always give their best when fighting for honours in big tournaments. These countries don’t just use and dump their athletes; they have structures which handle different aspects of the games at old age. These oldies later serve as role models for the younger generation who eventually replace them. These are time-tested deliberate policies which ensure growth and development of the sporting industry.

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    With these layouts for growth and development in civilised polities, it is easy for the private sector to key into the programmes of their choice to fund them as part of their CRS contributions to the society. In fact, sports isn’t run by guesswork in other climes, but through a sports calendar, which makes it easier for the deep pockets and blue-chip companies to align their goods and services to the country’s sports ecosystem. They do so, knowing that these sporting bodies are scandal free, just as they also ought to be accountable.

    The government should ensure that the accounts of receiving federations are audited and those found to have light fingers made to face the wrath of the law – including serving jail terms to serve as deterrent to others. It is quite shameful for Nigeria’s sports authorities to be locked in near-fistic cuffs with the government over funds for sports which are always scheduled for four years, two years, or one year at the least by international sporting associations.

    The countries that excel in sporting events have systems that guarantee enough funds for the sportsmen and sportswomen to compete with the best, such as tax rebates on sport-friendly firms, lotteries, and businesses owned by wealthy nationals who know what is in such a sponsorship that benefits them by the sitting government. Such financial taxes are spelled out to companies and wealthy citizens after agreements have been reached. These cast-in-stone policies are binding to all the parties to such an extent that breaches are adequately addressed to allow either of the parties to seek redress in court.

  • FA Cup’s disturbing mistakes

    FA Cup’s disturbing mistakes

    I’m beginning to sound like a cracked Long Playing (LP) record each passing weekend. But, I won’t stop exposing the flaws in the industry’s development, especially the inept administrative structures surrounding the beautiful game in Nigeria. Our soccer administrators have continued to make the optics associated with the game ugly compared with how those who know their onions make the events around big matches a beauty to behold. In other climes, the country’s FA Cup final games are always a showpiece.  Those countries’ FA members know how to seize the chance.

    For such big games in Nigeria, our federation chieftains make them theatres of the absurd – laughable, raising doubts about their capacity to make events associated with the final game of the country’s oldest soccer competition one to cherish. Yet these federation chiefs are FIFA designated match commissioners and belong to several committees in FIFA, CAF, WAFU etc. It goes without saying that perhaps they sleep during such committees’ meetings, not to be able to replicate what they were part of at such levels of football organisation.

    Imagine watching victorious Kwara United of Ilorin’s players, coaches, officials and their friends mounting unguarded and rickety trailers, driving through the highway, not minding their safety?  They looked more like pushing the trailer than using it to celebrate, as the people weren’t with them to create the ambience which is always eye-catching when done in civilised climes. Obviously not with trailers but top carrier buses created for such a purpose.

    Add the trailer foolery in Ilorin to the ill-advised trip by Abakaliki FC of Ebonyi State officials who escaped a tragic accident due to a brake failure, then you will understand why the Federal Government should declare a state of emergency in sports going forward. Yet, most State Government Houses have brand new buses littering the hitherto empty places in the Governor’s office and house. Couldn’t the State government have directed the release of three of those buses to the team to travel to Lagos, like the heroes that they are? Guess what? Had Abakaliki FC won the Federations Cup, the governor would have at the spur of the moment ordered the chartering of a private jet or an aircraft to convey the contingent to the nearest airport to prepare for a lavish entrance ceremony. Yes, the contingent would have an extra day or living in big hotels in Lagos at the State government’s expense. Pray, who doesn’t know that failure is an orphan? We all love winners. Interesting times. I digress!

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    With most of our federation’s men serving in FIFA, one would have thought the basics to avert breach of protocol before, during and after matches would come to them as second nature. Not so here, with most of the breaches coming from them, especially during trophy and medals’ presentation ceremonies. The stage on Saturday had over 16 officials who had nothing to do with the presentation which over time should not be more than seven for effective control and to prevent overcrowding.

    Officials of Kwara United FC of Ilorin were decorated before players, such that one of the club’s bosses had the temerity to snatch the trophy from the team’s captain and head for the winners’ podium where the players were waiting to celebrate with their captain. Guess what, the club boss raised the trophy aloft as if he played the game. Not satisfied, he passed the trophy to another official, leaving players in awe as meddlesome interlopers stole their thunder. That was the height of the absurdities during the medals and trophy presentation ceremony.

    One is sure that regular readers of this column won’t be surprised to read that the four teams which partook in the FA Cup finals in Lagos for the men and women wore jerseys without their names at the back for easy identification, especially for the radio and television commentators. The story behind this flaw arose from the fact that the FA chieftains in their marketing drives produced the jerseys which the four teams wore. Indeed. It became absolutely impossible for any name exercise, since they were delivered to them at the stadium.

    Can this happen anywhere in Europe, Americas, Asia etc? Organisers kitting participating teams? Who does that? What happened to the teams’ shirt sponsors who kitted them up till the final game? It got so bad that the goalkeeper of the series for women couldn’t receive her laurel because she was poorly dressed. An official collected the prize, with the winner watching dumbfounded. Is anyone, therefore, surprised that our clubs go cap in hand for cash when existing sponsors can’t get value for their sponsorship on a day the world was glued to watching the final game of the country’s oldest soccer competition hitherto called the Challenge Cup. If one may ask our federation bigwigs, how much did each of the two winners get for their efforts? How much was realised as gate takings or did anyone throw the gates open to the fans for free?

    Shame on the NFF. The trophy presentation for the women’s version was done twice. Where on earth is that done? If the guest of honour came late, it should have been overlooked than what was done on Saturday. These two events ought to have been treated differently; meaning the two final games ought to have been on different dates, rather than this tardy arrangement under the guise of saving costs. You want to take a bet?

    What a country! One has been asking if the Super Eagles Head Coach Eric Chelle attended the nation’s oldest football competition; if for anything else, to spot new talents for the four national teams across genders. Of course if Chelle was at the stadium, he would have joined the motley crowd at the winners’ dias to distribute the medals to coaches, players and officials. So, where was Chelle? Certainly not monitoring our players, since the European leagues are on recess. So, why is he being paid so much money in hard currencies only for him not to witness the country’s oldest soccer competition? Nobody will query Chelle. After all, his absence saved some money which would have been spent on his return tickets, logistics, allowances, local flight tickets, hotel accommodation and feeding. Could it be that Chelle didn’t want to waste time watching players who aren’t in his World Cup plans? Maybe.

    The World Cup is neither executed through prayers nor is it a lottery centre where anyone can walk in to operate the gaming machines. No! It is a platform to showcase excellence built over time and not a stage to exhibit mediocrity as we have always done in the past.

    I have no relationship with the NFF which would have required my advice, especially if my help isn’t sought. In fact I’m not a busybody. The reason I talk or write about the beautiful game or talk about it is because it is the King of sports. I also earn a living talking and/or writing sports. You tell me.

  • Siasia, Mikel enough

    Siasia, Mikel enough

    When the country’s Olympic Games Football  Dream Team coach, Samson Siasia, was accused of leading the squad members on a trip not approved by those who ought to have planned the squad’s trajectory to the Olympics’ soccer event, one knew that the tales of the unexpected would haunt us in the years ahead of us. A proper investigation of the accusations ought to have been carried out in 2016, with one objective – fish out those who were complicit in the show of shame as it was when it happened in the United States of America in 2016.

    The shameful conduct was swept under the carpet because the team won Nigeria’s only medal – a bronze medal, making the Dream Team to earn the honour of winning all three medals in the event. Gold in Atlanta 1996, silver in Beijing 2008 and bronze in 2016.

    The sports minister at that time visited the team in Atlanta where he was reported to have frowned at the coach, Samson Siasia’s resort to the media to complain about the difficulties the team was facing.

    According to Vanguard’s report: ”Apart from warning that Siasia’s action would be looked into and appropriate sanctions meted out to him if necessary”, the minister was said to have not only instructed the team’s captain, John Mikel Obi to take control of the team but equally asked him to restore sanity to the team, which he alleged was plagued with indiscipline.”

    The battle line between Mikel and Siasia had tacitly been drawn.  Wahala no dey finish for Nigeria. What a country.

    Was it right for the minister to have chastised the coach by belittling him, especially as Siasia is one of the icons of the game here having played for the country’s teams? Did Siasia tell a lie that the team was cash strapped? No. Who should Siasia have complained to if not pressmen who saw the players’ and coaches’ poor living conditions in America, in spite of the fact that they were our sports ambassadors to the 2016 Olympic Games? What a pity.

    This isn’t the first time Mikel would drop what now looks like falsehood on this matter. In fact, the then sports minister, Solomon Dalung, in the aftermath of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games said: “To the best of my knowledge as the Minister at the time, no player — Mikel Obi or otherwise, was authorised to arrange transport for Team Nigeria to Rio,”  in an interview with AIT.

    The operative words from Dalung are, ”neither Mikel nor anyone else was authorised to arrange transport for Team Nigeria to Rio”. The imminent question to ask Dalung was, who was authorised to arrange transport for the team? Again why didn’t the person do it? Or was it that the trip to America was unauthorised, dear Dalung?

    “I used my own money to help fund the Nigerian Super Eagles’ trip to the 2016 Rio Olympics, and till this day, the federation has not given me anything back,” Mikel recently said. “Honestly, I regret doing that.”

    But Dalung, who oversaw Nigeria’s sports ministry during the Games, dismissed the claim, stating emphatically that no player, including Mikel Obi, paid for any flight.

    “I want to apologise for all the circumstances that led to your late arrival here. I apologise because I am the head and as such I must take responsibility for anything that happens under my watch,” Dalung said after they beat Sweden, with a game to spare to qualify for the quarter-finals.

    One would have thought that the contending issues in the team would have been settled, especially with the celebrations in the camp and the minister’s apology.

    The pertinent question to ask is if Mikel is using this allegation to get traction to his podcast or stating the truth of the matter. I shudder to use Siasia’s statement suggesting that perhaps, things are rough for the former Chelsea star defensive midfielder. Not possible, my dear coach.

    It was Siasia’s call to explain what transpired since he was the coach of the team, which he did. But Siasia ought to have avoided the petty talk of poverty, since it was out of place in the discussion. Siasia exhibited grave immaturity. How, the so called players union ought to call both men to sheath their swords for the good of the game. This idea of washing our dirty linens in public is unnecessary, since those who should have dealt with matter in 2016 failed to do so. Now that events have overtaken the incidents, the wise thing that Mikel can do is thrash out the issue with the new Nigeria Sports Commission (NSC) boss, if indeed Mikel’s claims have been substantiated with documents from the Delta Airline’s management on request.

    Otherwise, it won’t cost the NSC anything to do a letter to Delta Airlines seeking to know what transpired, if there are doubts by all those in the past who debunked Mikel’s statement, including a former sports minister. Can all of them be lying and Mikel speaking the truth? Yes, we need to know which of the two parties to believe.

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    Whilst the matter is being investigated discreetly, it is important to remind Siasia and Mikel that as icons of the game in Nigeria and all over the world, they need know that the image and integrity of the country shouldn’t be tarnished on the altar of seeking a refund of $250,000 or otherwise? If Mikel feels he is speaking the truth, he can head for the EFCC or ICPC to do their jobs on the matter and keep quiet until the truth is told by the courts.

    However, one only hopes that the two bodies responsible for preparing the country’s contingents to the Olympic Games are noting this disturbing noise from our soccer icons, which rests squarely on a failure of leadership at the NSC and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), I dare say.

    There must be a workable synergy between the NSC and the NOC going forward to avert these kinds of show of shame among our contingents to international sporting competitions such as the Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games, the World Cup, Africa Cup of Nations, Africa Games, WAFU etc. Perhaps, this is the time to find out the details of the arrangement which dragged our sports ambassadors on a clueless trip to America?

    The NSC and indeed the NOC should ensure that all preparatory trips for our sportsmen and women outside the country for future competitions must be interrogated such that the ones which aren’t discerning should be dropped immediately. Of course, nobody is talking about the NFF’s involvement in the trip to America. Yet, it is the federation’s prerogative to provide answers to questions arising from the Mikel cum Siasia imbroglio. The team’s bronze medal celebrations ensured that the matter was swept under the carpet with everyone describing it as a ”golden” bronze. Indeed.

    Please Siasia and Mikel, you are sports treasures who should be celebrated always. We have heard enough of this mess. Case closed!

  • NIS Lagos: Nothing to cheer

    NIS Lagos: Nothing to cheer

    It seems to me most strange that the hierarchy of the National Sports Commission (NSC) would have preferred being the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). His penchant for discussing how to make the National Stadium, Abuja the home of the country’s soccer national teams or should I say the Super Eagles is disturbing. He makes sense in his speeches but the implementation remains an optical illusion. It is the frequency in discussing football issues that raises the one question of whether football is all that there is in his job description.

    One was taken aback watching the rot inside and outside the National Institute for Sports (NIS) as captured on camera by the print and electronic media – visuals so nauseating to watch. This shameful exposé came to the public knowledge during the official visit of the NIS Director General (DG) Phillip Shaibu to the complex on Monday. Watching the DG’s tour of the NIS rotten structures explains clearly the total destruction of sporting facilities owned by the Federal Government around the country.

    The place was inscrutable with leaky toilets whose stinking water formed small patches on the floor, which the inspection tour team struggled to pass through by either jumping or putting their hands on the dirty walls to navigate through the stench. A place called the powerhouse was potential gunpowder waiting to explode. Fitted with changeover units flung open, you could see loose electrical wires connected to God know where. Not too far away was a bed covered with wrapper, perhaps to shield the area from mosquitoes. The surrounding was despicable.

    If I was the man in charge of the NSC, I would immediately find out how much has been budgeted for maintenance at the NIS in the last 10 years and what the cash was used for. After all, governance is a continuum. I would also want to know if those found living in the hostels are students or homeless people living there ‘without’ the knowledge of the owners of the place. Or is the NIS also a hotel of sort?

    Again, if I was in Shaibu’s shoes, I would call in the engineers to see the NIS building and see if it would pass the integrity tests, going by what we saw during this inspection. Some of the cracks on the decking of several floors made it unwise for the place to be used for any human endeavour until proper work is done. And quickly too.

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    Put simply, the NIS was an eyesore when Shaibu visited and I wasn’t surprised that he hid behind one finger when he told reporters after the inspection tour that: “There is a lot of work to be done, but the cheering news is that the structures are still strong. What we need is a comprehensive renewal and not just cosmetic.

    “My approach will be different because I have the will.” He likened the state of the institute to dry bones in the Holy Scriptures, which could be revived. “The situation is not as bad as the valley of dry bones. If there’s a will, then there’s a way. With commitment and teamwork, NIS will work again”.

    According to Shaibu: “To get the kind of results we want in sports, certain bureaucratic bottlenecks must be addressed. That may include changes in policy and funding structure.”

    “You can’t drive excellence when your workforce is demoralised. We’ll look at welfare, training, and performance incentives as part of the broader reform.”

    “We are not just inspecting buildings. I will meet with staff, management, and students to hear their perspectives and chart a new course. Collaboration is key,” he said.

    “The NIS is the engine room of Nigeria sports. If the NIS is sleeping, Nigeria sports is sleeping. That is why our sports have not been moving forward,” Shaibu said.

    “Nigeria cannot be a giant of Africa in terms of size and economy and each time we go to international competitions, we’re not on the medals table. Each time we go to the Olympics, the silver medal becomes like gold for us, and so, it’s obvious that we need a lot of work to be done,” he said.

    “We’re not inventing a new vision; we’re here to implement and renew what already exists. And with the support of the staff, the media, and all stakeholders, we’ll bring NIS back to the top,”

    The refrain, ”we will bring NIS back to the top,’ would be the cliché that it is when he is faced with the frightening figures of how much is required to modernise the NIS. Shaibu would soon be confronted with the myriad of problems inherent in the NIS, including the high level politics that has left the NIS in ruins. The NIS is in a sickening state of disrepair. It would, therefore, be imperative to ask Shaibu what his plans are for the place, beyond the endless repairs.

    The few classrooms in the video sadly reminded one of the Emotan Preparatory School, Benin City’s classes of yore. One hopes that Shaibu would change that narrative to the modern digitalised environments for learning globally. Perhaps, Shaibu could visit Australia where the idea of the NIS took it roots, to see the massive disparity over the last three decades. It is important to appeal to the former deputy governor of Edo State to think of where he could relocate the NIS temporarily, to allow for decent upgrading and renovation works. The NIS should be reduced to a reconstruction site if we truly want a new dawn in the place. The NIS should be the fountain of knowledge for sports here. NIS should be the mill for producing good coaches, games masters and mistresses who would be employed at the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country. These coaches would hit the LGAs with one notion in their mind – discover, train athletes before exposing them to big sporting events such as the African Games, the Commonwealth Games, the Olympic Games etc. as future world beaters.

    Sport is a big deal. It unites nations and enchants people. Besides, it has a global appeal, pulling fans and sponsors into a unique force that impacts positively on businesses and health. These positives can best be evaluated when the government has a template that makes it possible for businesses and philanthropists to key into the nation’s vision for sports.

    Governments of sports-loving nations entice businesses with relief packages, such as tax rebates on their investments in sports. Given sports’ global appeal, governments effectively utilise the platform as their public relations tool to change people’s perceptions of their entities.

    Grassroots development can be actualised through the hosting of international and continental sporting events. Most countries use these big competitions to woo the blue-chip industries to identify with sports. Besides, these competitions open up the hinterland with the facilities constructed, creating jobs in the locality. The facilities would attract the villagers to learn the games and, inadvertently improve their health.

  • Lessons learned from Europe

    Lessons learned from Europe

    The European game of soccer is always enchanting to watch. It also always has the trappings of the big events – gripping, nostalgic feeling; beginning with the preparatory events outside the arena and all side-kicks as the fans in their numbers flock into the stadium through the gates as we call them here, but turnstiles as they are called over there.  These days, most stadia have massive lifts to quicken the movement of fans out of the venues. Will anyone here dare to use lifts in Nigeria with our chaotic electricity? No chance.

    The scenes within and outside the stadium are electrifying, which puts you in the mood wherever you are seated before, during, and after the game.

    I always cherish the media coverage of the big games, especially the moments that captured how the fans, kids, young boys, girls, adults, and the aged troop into the stadium wearing shades of the two sets of jerseys depicting when they started watching the two teams play. In Europe, all competitions have television coverage pacts to beam games live. And media personnel made the most of the television rights.

    Among the distinguished fans and their families are the yoyos, urchins, hooligans, and drunkards clutching to their glasses of beer with one hand, and the other hand holding the bottle of booze. In other climes, the security architecture ensured the operatives carried canisters of tear gas, not guns to ward off those roughnecks eager to disturb public peace. Neatly dressed and polite operatives ensured that nothing untoward happened.

    One read in amusement how the foreign press wanted to call out Lamine Yamal in the previews, equating the European Nations Cup between Spain and Portugal at the Allianz Arena in Germany to Cristiano Ronaldo versus Yamal. Ronaldo had already scored his 46th career goal compared to the enterprising but immensely talented Yamal.

    Some mischievous fans started whispering the Greatest Of All Times (G.O.A.T) argument, which was made famous in the heydays of Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

    What stands out in the execution of the plans to host events rests in a lot of training and rehearsals. Where one facet’s powers end is where the next begins. In the chain of strategists is the high levels of professionalism they bring to the stadium to stop any form of fracas until the events end. The security architecture trains and retrains their operatives; and they are polite and ready to help you locate the entry points into the stadium.

    One only hopes that the NFF chiefs can appreciate the fact that policing the stadium on match days starts three days to the event; policing the stadium on match days is guesswork.

    Once you have gained access inside the stadium, you will find out the level of preparedness to address the processes responsible for effective crowd control. Inside the stadium, you see trained stewards who at the snap of your fingers would walk towards you, asking what the issue was. The European Nations Cup final game gave the fans something to cherish in the years to come. On paper, nobody gave the Portuguese a dog chance to lift the trophy. Punters placed bets on Spain to lift the trophy. Yes, Spain’s new kids didn’t anticipate any upset from the Portuguese. They had the right to feel that they could lift the trophy, which didn’t happen.

    Kudos to the two finalists who played their hearts out, resulting in the 2-2 draw after 120 minutes. When Morata shot the ball tamely towards Portugal’s goalkeeper, Costa, he stretched full length to save the ball from entering. The Portuguese scored their final kick from the penalty spot to win the trophy. Having beaten the Spaniards, this writer searched in vain for Portugal’s Minister and indeed their soccer federation chieftains to see if they would celebrate the way their Nigerian counterparts did at the end of the pointless competition.

    The story of the commission’s bigwig being invited to watch the Unity Cup final game wasn’t enough reason for him to storm the field to take pictures with the trophy. Retired defender Pepe was invited by UEFA as a guest and we saw the role he played in accompanying the trophy to the dais, where he placed it.

    We saw how the Portuguese celebrated one of their own. It wasn’t surprising when the players beckoned on Pepe to dance with them on the podium.

    Let us hope that our sports administrators learned a few lessons from watching the European Nations Cup with the Portuguese emerging as victors, with Renaldo in tears at 40 years old. Ronaldo scored the second goal to tie the game at 2-2 in regulation time. It was his 938th career goal and a befitting glory for him.

    Nigeria’s previous ugly league

    When in 1990 some respected Nigerian soccer administrators conceptualised the Nigeria Professional League body, they were responding to the new trends in the beautiful game in other climes. These men couldn’t stomach the mediocrity associated with the Nigerian game. They wanted a departure from the tardy past to embrace the new dawn where very good players could earn a living outside the country. The wise men foresaw the future, where with a new mentality to matches, the country could one day play at the senior World Cup.

    The pioneers’ dreams came to pass in 1994 with Nigeria’s Super Eagles qualifying for the USA ’94 World Cup using players who had been exported to Europe to hone their skills which were still lethargic as a result of obsolete facilities across the country. The elite class was structured out of the old order. The quasi-professional league witnessed a lot of improvement, except that the ownership structures didn’t quite change with most of the teams owned by the government. The few private clubs (Leventis United FC of Ibadan, Abiola Babes FC of Abeokuta, New Nigeria Bank FC of Benin City, Flash Flamingoes FC of Benin City, Julius Berger FC of Lagos, Iwuanyanwu Nationale FC of Owerri, etc) left their marks, although they were eventually emasculated by the government teams which had tremendous cash which their administrators used to corrupt the system.

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    In fact, games involving these teams and their traditional local rivals threatened public peace, as security operatives had to be at their best to ensure peace before, during and after matches. In one of such needless skirmishes, Bendel Insurance FC’s chairman, the late Major Ojo lost his life in a car crash very close to the stadium while trying to rescue the match referees from being lynched by irate fans. Gallant soldier, if you ask me. May his soul continue to rest in peace.

    The rot in the league was such that we had predictable victories for home teams ably aided by dubious calls of match referees, who most times are cajoled into taking such decisions. Who would blame the referees when their entitlements were being paid by the home side? The administrators further bastardised the league by introducing boardroom points in connivance with officials in the former NFA’s league department. It was that bad.

    During the trying periods of the Nigeria league, IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan (3SC) won the Cup Winners Cup in 1976. They were dethroned as champions in 1977, with the games between 3SC and eventual winners Enugu Rangers International very problematic. The second leg game had to be played on neutral ground in Kaduna, no thanks to the lunacy of the irate fans. NNB and Bendel Insurance at different years won the WAFU Cup for keeps, with Bendel Insurance winning the Confederations Cup in1994 along with the WAFU Cup for the third time in the same year. It must be said that 3SC won the Confederations Cup in 1992; the trophy was donated by the late Chief MKO Abiola.

    Many have called those victories pyrrhic because it didn’t represent how badly the league was organised. In these years, there wasn’t any deliberate plan to train the coaches, officials and even educate the players about new trends in the game, which is dynamic.

    But today, Gbenga Otolorin Elegbeleye and Davidson Owumi have changed the narrative of the league for the good of the game.

  • Super Eagles’ nameless jerseys

    Super Eagles’ nameless jerseys

    Please, can somebody appeal to chieftains of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) never to field a Nigeria side wearing nameless jerseys in matches. It was shameful to observe and watch in awe as Nigeria became the only country among the four teams that partook in the last Unity Cup played at the Brentford Stadium in west London putting on jerseys without name tags on days when the coach was fielding new players. It speaks to the kind of kitting contracts the federation signed with our kit suppliers or should I say manufacturers? It explains why our players couldn’t exchange jerseys with their opponents and fans after games? Shouldn’t somebody be sacked for this international disgrace?

    Again, what manner of sports administrators or should I say specifically soccer chiefs do we have who take delight in throwing decency to the dogs? How do you explain brazen way in which the NSC boss and the federation’s President were busy taking their turns in photo ops with the Unity Cup as if they played the games? Wonders shall never end in Nigeria. The behind the scene optics at the Unity Cup were awful and largely around our officials. The bigwigs’ conduct in London puts a big question mark on who can remind Chelle that it would be unacceptable for our coach to be shown a red card during any game. Chelle needs to be told to be calm during matches. Nigerians would need to scratch their heads to find out the last time any Super Eagles coach was red-carded.

    One of my cynical friend whispered to me whilst watching the matches that perhaps, the nameless jerseys could be rewashed for the girls to wear in their games too. Disgusting. Better imagined than witnessed. But will you blame this fellow when the NFF has refused to number our players’ jerseys during matches? Who does that? In other climes, heads will roll. Not so in Nigeria.

    I’ve been having a good laugh with myself having repeatedly watched a corrupted version of intelligent coaches’ ideas and markers around the full pressing game by the Super Eagles as directed by Eric Chelle. What you don’t see, hear or talk about in Nigeria’s football arena does not exist. What Chelle should take quickly into his head is that sides which play the full pressing game do so with young, intelligent, fast, energetic and inventing boys. The basic ingredient about this style is the ease with which full pressing sides easily dispossess their opponents off the ball when they lose it.

    It comes with a lot of mental alertness and swiftness in which they transit from a defensive role to a lightening counter attack which ends up most time inside the net or saved by the opposition’s alert but magnificent goalkeeper.

    The pivot of the enchanting pressing style is the evident teamwork which eliminates showboat players for the pragmatic ones who play for the collective, not self. The strength of the full pressing tactic is that any delay in the transition time could expose the team’s weaknesses which could be exploited by smart and thinking coaches such as Jose Mourinho in his heydays as a coach, not the highly quarrelsome Special One of today.

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    And so when Chelle in a post-match comment revealed that his players haven’t embraced his full pressing style of play, necessitating the late goals which his team conceded lately, one wondered what he was talking about. Certainly not the full pressing which we saw in the two matches involving PSG and Liverpool in Paris and in England in one of the epic games of the last UEFA Champions League. Nor could Chelle be talking about the magnificent way in which Barcelona adopt theirs, using their two young gazelles, Lamine Yamal and Rafinha, both left footers but highly discerning players with expertise in dribbling themselves out of a tightly marked setting.

    Pray, it would be cruel not to mention the goal-banging two-legged games between FC Barcelona and Inter Milan in Spain and San Siro, which produced 13 goals. The difference is that Inter Milan’s coach wasn’t playing the full pressing game. Both teams had average goalkeepers, unlike what we saw from Liverpool’s Alisson Becker, and PSG’s Gianluigi Donnarumma.

    Eagles hitherto midfield marker, Wilfred Ndidi, has evidently lost his marking prowess to his recent injuries and age, leaving Alex Iwobi as the fall guy when the team’s midfield malfunctions.

    Frank Onyeka, Raphael Onyedika, Nathan Tella, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Christantus Uche and Papa Daniel Mustapha haven’t shown that they have the guile and wit; and they have also not been as consistent to be trusted with permanent roles in the team’s midfield. In the same vein, Samuel Chukwueze and Kelechi Iheanacho have been major disappointments in their outings. With many wondering how Iheanacho was selected for the Unity Cup competition, with a vulnerable defence having very slow runners. The Eagles need a solid and mobile midfield to compliment the devastating form of its strikers comprising Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Cyriel Dessers, Felix Agu, Victor Boniface, Simon Moses and Tolu Arokodare, with Chelle left with the option to call up Russia-based former junior international Olakunle Olusegun, who plays for Krasnodar FC for the friendly against Russia.

    The Nigerian side has two top-rated defenders in Ola Aina and Bassey, who play for Nottingham Forest and Fulham in the Premier League, leaving Coach Chelle with the most difficult task of getting a left wing back and two central defenders who can sprint very fast when the Eagles lose possession of the ball.

    William Ekong (Al-Kholood FC, Saudi Arabia); Bright Osayi-Samuel (Fenerbahce SK, Turkey); Bruno Onyemaechi (Olympiacos FC, Greece); Oluwasemilogo Ajayi (West Bromwich Albion, England); Igoh Ogbu (SK Slavia Prague, Czech Republic); Sodiq Ismaila (Remo Stars) and Benjamin Fredericks (Brentford FC, England) don’t look like good defenders, with many of them ageing, which has reduced their speed on and off the ball. Most of the late goals conceded by the Eagles have been from defensive slips. Add these defensive flaws to the fact that our big boys don’t fall back to retrieve the ball when the team loses possession, and you can begin to understand the precarious setting the country has found herself in the ongoing 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

    Yes, Chelle wants to be part of the new coaching pattern in the modern game. Indeed, Chelle should be told pointedly that the Nigerian team with an average of 28 years old players can’t play the fully pressing game because they would tire out easily. And with millipede-like slow defenders, it would pay us greatly not to play at the 2026 World Cup to be co-hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States (US). This will be the first time a World Cup is hosted by three nations. The tournament will take place in 16 cities across North America.

    Pity. This rot in the Eagles didn’t start today. It has been staring us in the face like a sore thumb. We failed to address the problems which have now returned to haunt us.

  • Wanted: Nigeria’s sports calendar

    Wanted: Nigeria’s sports calendar

    The 22nd National Sports Festival in Abeokuta lived up to Ogun State executive governor Prince Dapo Abiodun’s promises to make the games spectacular. Abiodun also provided the platforms for people in Ogun State to key into the different levels of economic activities before and during the games. This allowed the state to appreciate the extent of economic gains the festival created for their businesses. It was heartening that Abiodun bought into the suggestion of having a functional night activity during the games. This singular act brought bountiful harvests for those who provided the goods and services at night, as it ensured that the state government secured the city throughout the competition.

    Prince Abiodun, whilst reeling out how he planned to make the festival the benchmark for subsequent editions, took time to celebrate the state’s arts and cultural heritage potentials, not losing sight of the gains associated with making the Olumo Rock a sight-seeing adventure for visitors. Indeed, Ogun State is the heaven of admired clothing, and it was quite a spectacle watching how athletes and their officials scramble to buy them for personal use and as worthy gift apparel when they get home at the end of the games.

    Thank you, Prince Abiodun, for accepting to host the sports festival for the second time with the gains of the laudable way the games went not lost on critical stakeholders. The National Sports Festival is the premium competition of the National Sports Commission (NSC). And it amounted to good thinking by the immediate past Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, when he accepted the Ogun State’s offer to host the 22nd of the festive, which is easily one of the best editions of the multi-sports competition.

    It gladdens my heart that the next hosts of the competition are the Enugu State people where I did my NYSC in the early 1980s, although the State was known as Anambra State, From the hilltop of Awgu the NYSC camp to Awka, fond memories of Igwebuike Boys High School to Enugu State Sports Council, where I had a close relationship with great Enugu Rangers FC players such as the late Ogidi Ibuabuchi. I also remember ace cricketer Mbamalu (where are you now?).

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    Interestingly, the Enugu State Government has promised to organise a quality 23rd  National Sports Festival (NSF) in December 2026 in the state. Lloyd Ekweremadu, Commissioner for Sports in the State, said this at a news conference in Abeokuta on Thursday.  

    “I must say that Ogun has done well, we assure you that you can expect a better deal in Enugu,” he said.

    One of the best federations in the country is the table tennis federation – easily the federation that has a calendar of activities that keeps the kids busy. What is missing in this deluge of competitions is adequate training and retraining of the coaches who teach them. When pitched against better-exposed stars, they start the process of losing games from the way they stand behind the table. Every stroke offered is decoded by the

    opponents who have taken their time to watch past tapes of their foes, a practice we hardly do here.  No one goes to battle blindfolded, not knowing what to expect. This is the biggest problem with Nigerian athletes. Too much guesswork. No proper grooming.

    It is important to stress here that immediately after the 1984  Los Angeles Olympic Games, the Jamaicans went back home to re-strategise using the American models of grooming athletes from the schools. The Jamaicans sent their sportsmen and women to America and even brought good coaches from America to create the structures for growth which they stuck to religiously.

    One of the greatest female sprinters in the world was a Jamaican, Merlene Ottey before the Jamaicans took the challenge to the Americans. In the 1980 Moscow Games, Ottey became the first female English-speaking Caribbean athlete to win an Olympic medal when she took the bronze. In the 2000 Olympics, at age 40, Ottey became the oldest female track and field medallist when she anchored the Jamaican women’s 4×100 metres to a silver medal. With the disqualification of Marion Jones, she was awarded the bronze medal in the 100 metres, making her the oldest individual medallist.

    The Jamaicans have stolen the thunder of the Americans in the sprints and even other track and field events. The myth surrounding the Americans in world athletics (track and field events), especially in the sprints was broken by the Reggae boys and girls.

    This is the kind of attitude Nigeria’s athletics needs to adopt if we truly want to return to the glory days of yore.

    The question to ask the NSC chieftains rests on the fact that this festival held in Abeokuta has propped up several potential athletes who, with adequate preparations, could make the medals’ podium at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Therefore, what should Nigerians expect from the NSC’s templates to ensure that the country breaks her duck at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games? At the root of whatever template there is at the NSC and the urgent need for a sports calendar for Nigeria which everyone can follow, especially the private sector and deep-pocket sports enthusiasts.

    But does the NSC have the coaches to groom those discovered in Abeokuta to stardom at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games? It remains to be seen. Frankly speaking, our coaches are ill-equipped for the job, especially with the derelict conditions of most of the stadiums in the country. With rustic facilities around the country, there is little these coaches can do. They are left with the tardy option of making good of what they can get. We are left with only one option – always going to Europe to set up camping sites and paying heavily in hard currencies to train for weeks leading to the major sporting tournaments. The sore point is that these endless trips to foreign countries to train have remained the norm, leaving the facilities worse than they were with every turn of sporting events.

    For Nigeria to catch up with the others, she must cultivate the habit of hosting major sporting competitions. That is the only way the Nigerian government can fund the repair works of the rustic facilities in the country.

    A blueprint is sacrosanct for sports to thrive and it must be anchored on the dire need to resuscitate moribund grassroots competitions that engage youths, taking them away from the vices of the society.

    The emergence of a sports policy endorsed by the government will create jobs, such that this industry could, in the next 10 years, become the highest employer of labour.

    The policy should challenge local government chairmen to build at least four mini-sports centres that would serve as playgrounds for their constituents in the absence of such structures in the schools in the 774 local government areas.

    Multiply four mandatory mini-sports centres by 774 local governments, and what you get (3,096 mini-sports centres) would set the platform for the industry to grow. Blue-chip companies will then leverage their products and services on this enterprise since their target audience is the masses who will throng the centres to watch competitions.

    The spiral effect of blue-chip firms identifying with this new initiative is that the local government areas could recoup their investments because they could offer to name these facilities after the firms alongside other marketing windows that the initiatives offer, such as kitting and moulding the career paths of athletes discovered to stardom. 

  • Waiting for schoolboys

    Waiting for schoolboys

    What excites me about the Moroccan but now Spanish gazelle Laminr Yamal isn’t just his fascinating soccer skills nor is it his baby face. No. What bowled me over about Yamal is the fact that he is a proven schoolboy whose seamless ability to combine playing the beautiful game and his academics would no doubt encourage parents to allow their kids to combine both tasking professions to their wit’s end.

    Each time I sit at home or join my colleagues to watch FC Barcelona play their matches, I keep pinching myself to be sure I wasn’t in a dreamland or not hearing correctly the emphasis placed on Yamal being a student by the commentators either on television, radio or what have been written about the talented Spaniard.

    Still having doubts, I put the question across to Google if Yamal is a schoolboy, this was the response I got: ”Yes, Lamine Yamal is currently in school and is considered a schoolboy,” according to The Guardian. Despite his professional football career, he is still a teenager and has been actively pursuing his secondary school education. He even passed his secondary school exams, according to flashscore.com.ng.

    I probed further by again asking Google the name of Yamal’s school and this message popped up thus: ”Yamal was a member of La Masia, FC Barcelona’s youth academy. He is currently attending school, presumably in the fourth year of ESO (the equivalent of middle school) in Spain, according to reports Goal.com. He passed his fourth ESO exams recently. FOX Sports mentions that he was taking individual classes.”

    Satisfied with what I got from Google, I sought to find out if Yamal would be the only schoolboy at the U-20 World Cup? I didn’t have to consult Google, several names popped up such as Wayne Rooney. Rooney didn’t come with the English side which partook in the 1999 U20 World Cup hosted by Nigeria. Spain won the competition by beating Japan 2-0. The Japanese had the White witch doctor, Phillipe Troussier as their coach. You remember Troussier? Topic for another day.

    Quickly, my residual knowledge reminded me about this salient fact that as talented as Yamal is and a match winner for FC Barcelona, he won’t be included in Spain’s U-20 side to the World Cup? Did you, dear reader ask why? Yes, Yamal has been discovered, nurtured and exposed to world soccer thus giving way for others being prepared for stardom in the different nurseries in Spain. Foresight.

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    This writer isn’t pointing accusing finger at any player in te country’s U-20 side, the Flying Eagles because I’m not their parent, guardian or relation. It is rather a passionate plea to our soccer chieftains that those who would be flying the country’s flag in Chile are confirmed schoolboys like Yamal. The exceptional good ones like the Spaniard who have been exposed to make way for another talent. One is only stressing here that Nigeria has the the biggest chance to reinvent our football if our soccer administrator decree that those who would be picked to represent Nigeria in Chile must be schoolboys or those whose educational background can be tracked. In fact, Nigeria’s youth football must essentially be driven by verifiable data across the country. It isn’t enough for us to say that other countries are cheating. Foul.

    Those who qualified the country to participate in the next edition in Chile have been adequately compensated. If they haven’t, steps should be taken to reward them now. The time to turn a new page about how we administer youth football in Nigeria is now -youth soccer should be domiciled with the 36 States in the federation and Federal Capital City’s Ministries of Education and other tertiary bodies, not NFF, whose role should be to function as the clearing house as custodians of the beautiful game on FIFA’s behalf.

    What does it tell you about our football development here, if we splash cash as much as N192 million on kids under 20 years instead of offering them scholarships to improve on their education? It is this crazy cash rewards to kids under 20 that emboldens the young lads and their parents, guardians and relations to falsify their wards ages to the detriment of the growth and development of the game. Otherwise, how do you explain how any U-20 kid can’t spell his name correctly to necessitate assistance from the team’s secretaries to fill their passport forms?

    Need I waste space to list several spelling mistakes of otherwise simple names by team secretaries who would rather use their discretions to what they presume are the right letters to spell such names where Uan… is spelt as Van…? Interesting times in Nigeria’s soccer. The pain in this instance, is that the boy spelt his name correctly. The mistake came from one of the team’s officials.

    Civilised countries develop their sports through the neighbourhood system where facilities are built to engage the youth and push them away from social vices. Nurseries serve as the bases for storing the data of those discovered. Such information helps to nurture and monitor the good ones to stardom. Besides, nurseries lay the foundation where the athletes are taught the rudiments of the game. It is at such factories that playing styles and patterns unique to such countries are evolving.

    We have lost budding talents to mismanagement, even after the Federal Government had directed that past soccer federations nurture their future. Our administrators bask in the euphoria of being recognised in the world, leaving the game’s development on the lurch for shylock European scouts to exploit to the disadvantage of our young ones.

    We can’t be talking about growing talents at the nurseries without standardising the academies that abound in the country. The fraud committed by some disgruntled folks in the name of soccer academies can only be curtailed if the NFF through its state affiliates compel all such bodies to register with it. That way, the authorities can identify who the fraudster is if such allegations arise. This collegiate arrangement will eliminate age cheats because a kid discovered in Edo State, for instance, Ikponwonsa Ikponwonsa in 1988 as a 12-year old, cannot be Etim Etim in 2008 claiming to be 16. The details of his data from his first registration in Edo State will give him out even as Etim Etim.

    I’m not a fan of Nigeria’s age-grade teams across all levels and gender. The reason is straightforward. Our age-grade stars hardly make it to the pinnacle of their career because there is little willpower that can propel an ageing player to compete with younger boys. Indeed, the wholesale transition of most cup-winning age-grade teams to other teams leading to wearing the Super Eagles shirts regularly has been like a mirage.

  • Fielding adults as kids

    Fielding adults as kids

    Suddenly, it has dawned on those who make the decisions concerning our football to drop the serial coach of the country’s U-20 side, the Flying Eagles, for another tactician who has qualified the team for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. This hitherto unsung coach in qualifying for the World Cup beat the defending champions of the Africa leg of the competition, Senegal, on penalty kicks 3-1 after a barren 120 minutes draw. A breath of fresh air, many people have said. But the reason one has refused to join the bandwagon of celebrating fans is the thought of the players’ true ages. This has been the albatross of the beautiful game in Nigeria.

    Yes, I’m not the players’ parent or guardian to authenticate their ages, but it would help the country’s football in leaps and bounds if we make it our mantra to always parade players with the correct ages – in this case, secondary schools and those being nurtured by credible football academies. It would be foolhardy if any of these players’ age verification documents were sworn affidavits, otherwise known as “Oluwole” in sports circles here.

    Any player who produces sworn affidavits as his age certificate should be screened out of the team. Any child born in the last 25 years in Nigeria ought to have an authentic birth certificate,  or those screening the players should insist on the birth certificate. Perhaps, track the players’ ages from their educational background. With a population of over 200 million people living in the 774 Local Government Areas of the country, it is only fair to state here that one of the reasons our football is in a coma rests largely with the dearth of nurseries here. For Nigeria to reinvent its dominance of the beautiful game globally, our football chieftains must eschew the must-win approach to competitions by not encouraging or casting an indulgent eye on our coaches who cheat by picking over-aged players in their squads. This has been the death knell of the beautiful game here.

    Nigeria shouldn’t win all the competitions she enrols for, though that is usually the essence of participating. But at the age grade tournaments, whose priority is to discover, nurture and expose budding talents in the country, it is important to deemphasise victories but embrace the big picture of releasing young and trainable boys and girls for the game’s good.

    It is disturbing to note that despite all the FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria has won. The Atlanta’96 Olympic Games gold medal in the soccer event, we haven’t been able to qualify for the quarter finals of the senior World Cup, which was what Senegal achieved in her debut outing at the Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup which Brazil lifted.

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    What am I saying? What made Principal Cup tick back in the years were those school boys who played for our domestic league clubs in the country. They brought the rivalry and stiff competition for first team shirts in these clubs to the Principal Cup which made it very exciting for fans who aligned with the schools-based on their club preferences. That is, if their Alma Mater wasn’t among the competing teams. Such school boys as Henry Nwosu, Haruna Ilerika, Tarila Okoronwanta, late Stephen Keshi, Sam Okpodu, Clement Temile, Davidson Owumi, Edema Fuludu, Friday ‘Elastic’ Elahor, Daniel Amokachi, Yakubu Ayegbeni, Sunday Edema Benson, the late Wilfred Agbonibvare, Ikponwosa Omoregie, Baldwin Bazuaye, Humphrey Edobor, etc.

    What this striking relationship with the schools brought to the fore was connections among the fans. I wept literarily watching the absolutely poor display of the Flying Eagles against their South African counterparts. The docile atmosphere around the place where I sat to watch the game explained the disconnect between the team and Nigerians, as many people didn’t know their sports stars. A few of the fans were miffed about the calibre of players Nigeria fielded, with many of them vowing that this squad wouldn’t beat boys of their age in many parts of Lagos and its environs. Indeed, the South Africans were not good. But the Flying Eagles were hopeless with what they displayed throughout the game on Thursday.

    Nigeria can produce 200 different sets of U-20 players across the nation, but their innate skills need to be harnessed properly by knowledgeable coaches with the pedigree of grooming boys at that level to trophies. This idea of rotating coaches within the country by way of balancing the quota system is ruinous. This is the difference between our national teams at all levels and genders and those nations that keep on winning soccer competitions.

    It isn’t too late to draft a competent technical crew for the Flying Eagles, irrespective of the sentiments of allowing the coach who qualified the squad members to enjoy the fruits of their labour to play at the FIFA U-20 competition. Ordinarily, the U-20 boys should be drawn from recognised soccer academies who are products of the NFF’s youth football ecosystem,, not what we have now. Bad coaching makes good and talented players look ordinary.

    Being a good player for the domestic teams and/or playing the game at the highest levels in Europe doesn’t translate to being a coach. You must have enviable coaching credentials and track records of producing teams that play fluid, exciting soccer with boys who score goals with aplomb. Not former games masters. Time was when YSFON served as the template for discovering, nurturing and exposing youth players to the world through different age groups around the country. In fact, YSFON’s exposed kids through such tournaments as the Gothia Cup of yore formed the bulk of those Golden Eaglets players, or should I call them kids who won the FIFA U-16 World Championship trophy in 1985 in China. Nigeria won the inaugural FIFA U-16 World Championship, held in China, in 1985. They defeated West Germany 2-0 in the final with Victor Igbinoba scoring a spectacular long-range shot.

    Academies, which are nurseries for warehousing the game, have been standardised to protect the sector and backed by law for effectiveness. It is at this level that countries’ playing patterns evolve depending on what the coaches feel could bring the best from their nationals.  Standards are set for owning such academies, including their curriculum, to shut out quackery. These academies are registered by the country’s FA with the right synergy struck, where players’ movement in and out of the country is documented.

    The serious-minded soccer nations expose players from academies who also have the template to monitor those who did well and have juicy packages in big clubs in Europe, the Americas and the Diaspora. These academies ensure that the players’ career paths are cut to fit their ambitions. Those of them eager to combine playing soccer with going to school are enrolled to be educated. They also have drawn up training schedules to suit their schools’ curriculum, knowing the importance of education when their career as soccer players are over. Nothing happens in such countries by accident.

    The beauty of this system is that it also provides a platform for coaches to be trained and retrained on how to handle kids until adulthood. In fact, many of these coaches end up specialising in training young ones. They won’t be persuaded to handle clubs since they enjoy doing the job. It is, therefore, easy for these countries to name age-grade teams’ coaches, not by guesswork or sentiments but by their achievements in the local competitions in such countries. This academy system ensures that players’ data is accurate. They are stored and used in subsequent editions as the players grow.

  • Foreigners planting grass

    Foreigners planting grass

    Whatever hasn’t happened in Nigeria’s sports doesn’t exist. The latest of such bizarre incidents in sports here is the laughable sight of foreigners planting grass on playing turfs in our Federal Government-owned stadia around the country. We have seen video clips of a top sports official in Nigeria watching how a pitch in one of the European country’s football pitches was being re-grassed. It was quite preposterous watching this dangling government official stepping on portions of the re-grassed pitch while nodding in approval. I ask again, who cursed Nigeria like this?

    Of course, we would be told soonest that these foreigners would be importing special specie of grass into the country.  Which, sadly means the grass would also come from Europe, with special soil after several failed soil tests in the country. Manure, which is commonplace in the country from animals’ dung, would be jettisoned in preference for imported fertiliser. That is what it is here – personal agenda towering over national interests, even if it means bleeding the establishment to its financial death.

    It is only in Nigeria that governance isn’t a continuum, otherwise during Chief Sunday Dare’s tenure, the immediate past Sports Minister, he brought a Nigerian who resides in Owerri to re-grass the National Stadium’s pitch in Abuja and the big players commended the quality of the pitch when they came to country for an international assignment. Again I ask, where is that Nigerian from Owerri who did that magic? Shouldn’t he be given another chance to prove his mettle?

    What has this government official done to ensure that all our stadia have functional boreholes where water can be used to wet the grass? Not forgetting the presence of an uninterrupted supply of electricity in the premises? What all stadia with good playing pitches have going for them is the presence of a large land mass, which has grass being nurtured as nurseries, which they use to patch up balding areas on the main pitch. At half time and immediately after games, sprinklers underground throw water to give life to the grass. Need I repeat what these pitches enjoy for countries that have a prevalent maintenance culture? Cars, trucks and all manner of heavy containers are not allowed on these playing turfs. Of course these grounds aren’t used for political rallies or/and musical carnivals like ours. Playing turfs are handled and nurtured as kids by proven horticulturists, not just any person serving as gardeners as we have in Nigeria.

    In fact, shouldn’t this government official have come back to Nigerians to think for him instead of the illiterate option of bringing foreigners to plant grass in pitches around the country? Is this government official saying that there are no lush green turfs in Nigeria? How about the golf grounds? A religious outfit in Nigeria, located in Igieduma in Edo State, has lush green lawns which help beautify the place whilst you drive past Igieduma throughout the year.

    What those who run our sports should routinely do is to throw open bids for things like this, and pick the best. Planting grass isn’t rock science. It is most unwise to do, given the calibre of trained horticulturists in the country.

    Curiously, one is tempted to ask those who refurbished these stadia the type of agreement they reached with those who refurbished them. Most times, these stadium builders insist on agreements where their workmen groom people who can handle any emergencies within and inside the place to avoid wanton destruction of sensitive gadgets within the stadium.

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    Where are all the agreements reached after refurbishing the stadia in the past? That way we would know whose fault it was to have abandoned the stadia to their present deplorable conditions, such that we would be talking about a rebuilding of the entire structures.

    The ruination experienced at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos; Liberty Stadium, Ibadan; Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, and Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna is largely due to the dearth of competitions at the domestic scene. The four stadia used to host great sporting events. But our junketing officials watched the gradual destruction of these edifices and used their disused condition to buttress why they must take Nigerian athletes overseas to train. Sadly, it didn’t occur to them that the government would save cash from their jamborees by fixing these facilities.

    Piecemeal repair works of parts of the edifice called the stadium aren’t what we need. What is desirable now is the urgent need to rebuild two brand new stadia fitted with modern-day technologies and gadgets. The government alone can’t provide all the funds without collaborating with the private sector.

    If we must achieve excellence and meet the objective requirement for the rapid development of our sports industry, then we must broaden the financial base of the industry and create the right conditions for private sector funding and investment in sports.

    We must accept that there is a need for us to have the political will to make sports a big business, which inevitably will create the platforms for unemployment. We need to cultivate business concerns to embrace sports, but with a caveat: transparency and accountability. There was a need to create an enabling environment for business concerns to key into sports patronage, first to change the way it is run in Nigeria and then to get Nigerians to know that sports help increase the country’s G.D.P as seen in other climes.

    Sport is a big deal. It unites nations and enchants people. Besides, it has a global appeal, pulling fans and sponsors in a unique force that impacts businesses and health. These positives can best be evaluated when the government has a template that makes it possible for businesses and philanthropists to key into the nation’s vision for sports.

    Governments of sports-loving nations entice the businesses with relief packages, such as tax rebates on their investments in sports. Given sports’ global appeal, governments effectively utilise the platform as their public relations tool to change people’s perception of their entities.

    Grassroots development can be actualised through the hosting of international and continental sporting events. Most countries use these big competitions to woo the blue-chip industries to identify with sports. Besides, these competitions open up the hinterland with the facilities constructed, creating jobs in the locality. The facilities would attract the villagers to learn the games and, inadvertently, improve their health.

    Big sports competitions generate revenue, create jobs, improve financial bases and provide the best opportunity for foreigners to have first-hand interaction with Nigerians. Such competitions improve tourism, a sure money spinner. Need I state the benefit that business concerns will gain from the volume of foreign exchange during such competitions?

    Is sports all about funding and administration? Not exactly. Without the athletes and the coaches, no sports events can be held. Athletes and coaches form the fulcrum on which sports thrive.