Category: Sports

Nigeria will now prepare for the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Faro, Portugal, after a proposal to train in Zimbabwe was dropped for lack of facilities.

Coach Stephen Keshi proposed for his team to train in Zimbabwe prior to the 2013 Nations Cup in South Africa.

However, top officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have now said the team will train in Portugal because the facilities there are better.

NFF president Aminu Maigari said Keshi has been informed about the choice of Portugal.

“We will camp in Portugal. We have told the coach of the change of plans because we want the best for our national team. We want them to be in the best condition to fight for the trophy.”

The Eagles also trained in Faro for the 2004 and 2006 AFCONs in Tunisia and Egypt, respectively.

The country’s U20, the Flying Eagles, also prepared for the 2011 FIFA U20 World Cup as well as the national team for beach soccer.

The NFF boss said that it has been a long time since Nigeria won the Nations Cup and as such everything has to be done to redress this.

“We feel we have a team that can win the Cup again,” he said.

“Though we are not putting pressure on them to deliver, they know what joy they would give Nigerians if they won.”

Nigeria have won the competition twice, in 1980 and 1994.

Gov. Martin Elechi of Ebonyi has assured that Ebonyi athletes would be adequately motivated for the forthcoming 18th National Sports Festival.

The festival, dubbed, “Eko 2012’’ holds from Nov. 27 to Dec. 9 in Lagos.

Elechi gave the assurance on Thursday while receiving the festival’s torch from officials of the National Sports Commission (NSC) at the Government House, Abakaliki.

The governor noted that the athletes would be adequately motivated and given the best form of training, to enable them to excel at the competition.

“We will inculcate into them, the spirit of discipline to compete according to the rules guiding the competition.

“Discipline as a virtue, is also needed in other spheres of life such as politics, commerce among others; for us to attain a better society,” he said.

He noted that the government would promote sports at the grassroots for the discovery of raw talents who would be groomed to represent the state at various national sporting competitions.

“We have directed that aggressive sports developmental modalities be put in place at various Local Government Areas of the state, to achieve this noble objective. `This is also in consonance with President Goodluck Jonathan’s call on relevant stakeholders in the country, to collaborate and return the nation’s sports to its former exalted position,” he said.

Elechi remarked that the state would soon start producing notable sports talents in the class of the late Richard Ihetu, popularly known as`Dick Tiger’, Chioma Ajunwa and Mary Onyali.

“I also call on individuals to participate in various sporting events to improve their health and ultimately aid productivity in their chosen endeavours,” he said.

Stanley Okebugwu, the South East Zonal Coordinator of the NSC, thanked the governor for personally participating in the occasion, urging him to ensure that sports was developed in the state.

“Ebonyi is blessed with abundant talents and with proper funding and administration, the talents would be groomed into world beaters,” he said.

He called for aggressive developmental approach towards sports in the zonal, state and local government levels, to attain Jonathan’s vision for the sector.

Sam Mgbada, Commissioner for Youths and Sports in the state, expressed optimism that the state would perform creditably at the festival, going by the government’s support to athletes. Highlights of the occasion include the ceremonial passing of the torch to the governor and its tour of major areas of Abakaliki.

Ebonyi was placed 34th at the last festival held in Port Harcourt, Rivers in 2011 — with three silver medals.

Some Ph.D. students of the University of Lagos, have rejected plans by the institution to evict them from campus during the National Sports Festival (NSF).

The institution has an arrangement with the organisers of the NSF to use the halls of residence to accommodate some of the athletes participating in the festival.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the festival tagged `Eko 2012’, would hold in Lagos from Nov. 27 to Dec. 9.

A letter by the affected students, sent to the acting vice-chancellor of the institution, expressed displeasure at the decision, saying it was, “a clinical attempt to distract the Ph. D. students residing in the halls from attending to their research works”.

“The eviction will reduce the stability of Ph. D. students in various ramifications, especially in that many of them come from different parts of the country, far away from Lagos”.

The post-graduate students noted that vacating the halls in the middle of their research works would dislodge the psychological balance and focus needed for successful academic pursuits.

The eviction notice in question was entitled: “Closure/Vacation of Halls of Residence’’ and dated Oct. 17. It was signed by the Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof. O. O. Amund.

It said the request for an extended stay in the Erastus Akingbola and Henry Carr Halls by post-graduate students was discussed at a meeting with the hall executives in September.

“After a careful deliberation of the matter/request, it was decided that all students should vacate the halls of residence on or before Nov. 20, 2012 in preparation of the National Sports Festival as approved by the University Senate,” the notice said.

The Dean of School of Post-Graduate Studies, Prof. L.O. Chukwu told NAN he was not in a position to speak on the matter pointing out that: “It is the job of the dean of students’ affairs to comment on the matter,’’ he said.

However, Amund, said that the affected students were not bigger than the university and should not try to be confrontational by challenging a decision already taken by the institution.

“I have done Ph. D. before; so, there’s nothing new in it and they shouldn’t feel very big because they are doing it. People have done it before.

“They were given a notice of two weeks and that should be enough for them to prepare and leave the university premises. Thank you!’’ he told NAN.

Dr Kweku Tandoh, the Secretary-General of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) said: “ Unilag is one of the Games’ villages of the festival.

“We requested to use the school and their Senate gave us approval to use it. They told us that they have amended their calendar to accommodate the festival.

“If we had been told that their facilities were not available, we could have made other arrangements”.

He added that it was the Lagos State Government that provided the venues for the festival, and that Unilag was one of these.

The draw for the 2013 Edition of the African Cup of Nations pitted Nigeria in Group C with West African brothers Burkina Faso. Both countries clash in Nelspruit, North East South Africa, on January 21.

The Burkina Faso Minister of Sports and Recreation, Colonel Yacouba Ouedraogo , is positive that the Stallions will progress from the group to the knockout rounds of the competition.

Assessing their opponents, Ouedraogo was quoted as saying by sidwaya.bf: ”Nigeria is no longer a strong force. Ethiopia is rising, Zambia, the defending champions, qualified hard.”

FC Augsburg summer recruit, Aristide Bancé, also fancies the team’s chances against Nigeria and Zambia, two of the favourites to qualify for the quarter – finals.

He told the newspaper: ”We learned from the past and we have our chance to get out of this group. There we must not overlook a team, especially Ethiopia.”

Speaking on the draw, the national coach Paul Put told sidwaya.bf: ”All groups are difficult insofar as it is a competition that brings together the 16 best teams in the continent. We already know Zambia and Nigeria. My concern remains the great unknown, Ethiopia. We will conduct research and prepare the team properly to achieve our goal in this competition which is to go as far as possible, or at least qualify to the next round.”

Reflecting on the various challenges that are currently confronting the sport sector in Nigeria one cannot but take a look at the institutions established to drive the process of sports development in Nigeria however, the more I take this inquisitive look at the institutions the less I am able to see these institutions operating in relation to their various positions before the law establishing them. As I look at the various institutions I see a state of utmost confusion in the sporting atmosphere and I wonder if we are sincere as a people to change the face of sport in our dear nation.

Most people are very quick to castigate the officials of sport institutions whenever there is a recorded failure in terms of sporting achievement at international sporting competitions or tournament this to the average Nigerian is the score card by which they measure the performance of sport managers and honestly I agree because after all competition is an assessment of your training programme which is a product of your sport development.

Today however, I have another issue bothering my heart it is an issue that calls for serious national concern because without it we cannot be talking about sport development let alone talk about implementing any policy on sports development in Nigeria. I am concerned that the National Assembly is always quick in setting up investigative panels or public hearing whenever there is recorded failure in performance by our athletes at various international competitions.

This writer has been privileged to witness two of such sessions and I must confess it was quite interesting to behold as we see distinguished people taking turns to speak as may be scheduled all attempting to proffer solutions to the problems of sports development. The list of participants are almost always the same ranging from past Ministers of Sport, past Chairmen or President of Sport Federations, representative of sport professionals from the academia, athlete’s union, representatives of the officials, current actors and of course representatives of the media all telling us same story in different ways.

More importantly, is my focus for today which is hinged on the role of the National Assembly in sports development, and when I say the National Assembly I am referring to both the Senate and House of Representatives respectively. These two houses in past years have contributed tremendously to the state of our sport and as a matter of fact their acts have constituted a great depreciation in the role of the various sport institutions in this country the National Assembly have in time past failed to carry out their fundamental duty of making laws that will strengthen our sport sector one is perturbed by this action.

Today our sport institutions at the Federal level are standing on the probability of legitimacy scale which is characterized by the various laws establishing these institutions which are long overdue for a review. As a matter of fact one would have expected that our National Assembly would by now have ensured that all necessary legislation that has to do with the various sport institutions are well articulated and passed into law because their failure in this regard will leave one with no other option than to ask the following questions. How can a body not backed by law be able to function properly? What should the said body be doing because as it is, the body is not having a clear mandate on its powers and limitations as well as its protection in the place of law?

This writer is aware that the National Assembly through it’s Committee on sport in this dispensation have commenced a process which in actual fact has passed the second reading and a public hearing session held however, my wonder is why these bills have not yet been passed into law “pardon my Legislative ignorance” I speak as a man who does not understand the process but who is keen in ensuring that whatever the process the end product should be quickened for the benefit of sport and the nation at large. We need these laws no doubt about that so that every sport institution can be properly constituted and guided thus kick starting the process of a vibrant sport sector.

The question to the National Assembly is very simple when will these laws be passed? What is causing it’s delay? How long should Nigerians wait for this laws to be passed? Is the National Assembly aware of the implications on the passage of the law to the overall operations and actualization by the sport institutions of our nations sports development programme? These pertinent questions need be answered because further delay in the passage of these laws will adversely affect the overall development of sport in Nigeria

We therefore implore the National Assembly through its various committee’s on sport to do all within their powers in ensuring that the good work they have so far started is completed and passed into law While we advocate for these changes I need to also call the attention of the National Assembly through its committee’s on sport to come up with an Act of the National Assembly to be referred to as “Nigerians with Disability Act” (NDA) which will require that new stadiums/ Sport Facilities are to be made accessible to people with disabilities so they, their families, and friends can enjoy equal access to entertainment, recreation and leisure. It is my expectation that we will get it all right in the area of sport legislation in Nigeria.

It should be noted that every successful sporting nation is a reflection of the extent of constitution backing enjoyed by the various sport institutions in those countries. There cannot be any meaningful progress no matter the type of planning or developmental policy if the aspect of establishing appropriate laws is not rightly put in place. We must as a nation request for this fundamental action to be taken by the National Assembly in our bid towards repositioning our sports through the proper constitution and strengthening of our sport institutions in Nigeria.

Glasgow Celtic defender Efe Ambrose has been rewarded for his stand-out performance against Barcelona in the Champions League, with UEFA naming the Nigeria international in its prestigious Team of the Week which was announced on Thursday.

Had it not been for Jordi Alba’s late, late winner, the Scottish powerhouse would have left the Nou Camp with a memorable draw. Ambrose, a versatile player, did his best in neutralizing Barca’s attacking threat spearheaded by Argentina superstar Lionel Messi.

Speaking on making the UEFA Champions League Team of the Week, Ambrose told allnigeriasoccer.com: ”When I started playing professionally, I had ambitions of playing in the Champions League. I am elated to be chosen in the Team of the Week especially as it was picked by professionals. It’s a recognition of our good team work against Barcelona and the whole team deserves this nomination.

The 24-year -old has acknowledged the support the team received from the Celtic faithfuls in the unforgettable clash against Barcelona.

”I am short of words to describe the feeling of the fans when we conceded that late goal against Barcelona. But I believe it is the will of God and we pray the reverse fixture will be in our favour.

”The Celtic fans were amazing, supporting the team from the beginning of the game until the end, and that’s what differentiate these supporters from other clubs’ supporters. They are very passionate about Celtic,” says Ambrose.

Efe Ambrose has suited two times for Glasgow Celtic in Europe’s premier club competition.

Ibrahim Muhammad, President, Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF), on Friday attributed the decline in sports in the country to neglect of school sports.

Muhammad told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview that sports in the country would grow, if proper attention and resources were channeled to revive sports in secondary schools.

“Sports in the country have witnessed a decline, due to the neglect of school sports. You don’t expect sports to develop if the proper steps are not taken. In the 70’s and 80’s, school sports used to get support from the government and that was why we were then ranked among the best in Africa. Now, all we do is to recycle old athletes, instead of discovering new ones to replace the ageing ones,’’ he said.

According to him, the country’s dismal performance at the 2012 London Olympics was as a result of the country’s failure to sustain growth at the grassroots.

“Sports development starts at the primary and secondary schools,’’ the president said.

Muhammad, however, commended some private organisations for promoting school sports and urged the government to extend full support to the NSSF.

“Milo has been supporting schools’ basketball competition for the past 13 years and Shell has also done the same in football for 14 years. If we can have more companies that can complement the effort of the government in this regard, then we will be on the right track,’’ Muhammad said.