The Athletic Federation in Nigeria is deep in crisis with the federation’s top shots opting to shut out recalcitrant members who are insisting on doing things the old ways.
Athletics ought to be a money spinner akin to what occurs in countries where athletics blossoms. At the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and the World Championship not forgetting the athletics’ Grand Prix competitions where the sportsmen and women used to garner points, the athletics events draw fans from where they are during such competitions to watch the 100 metres race for both men and women.
The 100-metre races to determine the fastest man and woman in the world dominate the headlines in the media immediately the winners with questions if records were broken or not. Instances were recorded, and followers of the sport asked such questions on the wind gauge. Indeed, until the athlete is subject to rigorous checks, not few purists would reckon with the new records. But in Nigeria, the trouble that has been festering in a hush tone in the past has blown open the AFN with athletes being taken off by their amiable federation president. Perhaps, the new minister of sports Senator John Enoh could call for the AFN President and his members to find an amicable resolution of the crisis for the good of the game.
It may please the minister to note basketball federation has been torn to shreds by hitherto soul mates much to the consternation of lovers of the dunking game. With the 2024 Olympic Games less than one year away in Paris, it is almost certain that the Nigerian team to the multi-sport tournament would be slim and would be clapping for her opponents rather than being celebrated.
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.
One of the best federations in the country is the table tennis federation – easily the federation that has a calendar of activities that keep 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.
Honourable sports minister, sir, if Nigeria must be seen to be a sporting nation, our sports chieftains must start accepting to host major international competitions. The best way to upgrade these facilities here in Nigeria is to host periodic sporting events in the different sports. Our administrators’ penchant for honouring and attending events held outside the country, because it guarantees payment in dollars, should be stopped.
These administrators must be tasked to take each game to any part of the country with the best comparative advantage to produce the athletes who must then be taught the rudiments of the game at the grassroots. The criteria for picking administrators for each sport should include having a passion for the game. It is only when a person is passionate about a sport that he can appreciate the need to continuously provide new ideas to develop it.
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.
Perhaps we must re-introduce the zonal sports offices in the six geo-political zones and equip them with coaches and office personnel who should be monitored just as the coaches must be retrained. Those who are not productive should be eased out of the system.
These rebuilding processes would produce an incontrovertible database of the talents discovered. And it would help sports develop since athletes won’t be able to forge ages to play for the junior teams.
Honourable Sports Minister, let’s allow the private sector to come in to set the tone with entrepreneurial skills, and then it becomes a huge business. Imagine what it means if every week people go into the stadium to enjoy a good match; the impact and effervescent effect on the nation. Consider those who transport the fans, who sell to the fans, produce wares for the fans, produce the tickets, and the telephone companies that would gain from it, especially in this telecommunication age, where if you are in the stadium, you want to tweet it, take pictures and post on the social media, it is all so complex. That is why we are saying that sports are a catalyst to recover from the economic recession that the country is experiencing. But that is if we understand it.
The talents are here; what we lack is a sports culture that is anchored on a calendar that sports-friendly blue-chip companies can incorporate into their fiscal budgets.
Our sports facilities must be maintained. Those old ones should be upgraded to provide a platform for local and international competitions for our athletes.
The minister should ensure that the National Institute for Sports (NIS) performs like its contemporaries elsewhere. It should be upgraded to function as the training ground for our coaches. It should also serve as the brain-box of our sports where policies are implemented.
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.
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?
It, therefore, aches to note that we have hosted big competitions in the past and have been unable to convince the corporate world about the gains of such events largely because no government has bothered to ask the organisers what went down and what we gained – this is what economists call Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA). Facilities built for such competitions are rotting away. In some cases, the equipment has been vandalised with nobody made to pay for it.
