Minister of Sports, Hon. John Enoh, a farmer-turned-sports administrator seems to be on the wrong trajectory since assuming office. From the look of things, he is not ready to change course for the better.
Despite billions of naira at his disposal, Nigeria failed to come home with a medal at the last Olympics and instead of rethinking his strategy, has been chasing shadows since the contingent returned from Paris 2024.
The latest was his “hide and seek“ committee (apology to former Green Eagles player, Mr Adelabu) set up to look into the “negative aspects” of the games.
The terms of reference are to investigate the following; Ofili’s omission from the women’s 100m list, and the issues that have to do with the basketball team, DTigress who were barred from boarding the country’s boat for the Games’ opening ceremony. The committee is also to look into the issues concerning the boxer, Cynthia Ogunsemilore who was sent home after testing positive to a banned substance. This is what the respected former player described as a hide and seek game.
Egypt on the other hand took home three medals unlike Nigeria which returned home empty handed despite an array of talents. The President of Egypt, Abdul-Fattah al- Sisi unlike our Sports Minister ordered a comprehensive evaluation of Sports Federations that participated at the Paris Olympics Games. The mandate included a thorough expenditure check and a performance review to better highlight areas of improvement and fund allocation in future games. Additionally, the Egyptian President plans to take necessary measures against federations such as limiting funds to those that had negative results in the Paris Games. The President hopes to channel resources to promising athletes to ensure optimal results in the future. He also aims to reduce administrative and technical staff within Olympic delegates and task relevant ministries with preparing future Olympic athletes.
Back to our Sports Minister, he seems not to know what to do at this critical time when all hands ought to be on deck to see that we improve on our dismal performance in the last Olympics.
Immediately the Sports Minister came out with his probe panel, a sports analyst advised him to, instead set up a committee to look into the general performance of our athletes and why they failed woefully. “I don’t know why our administrators always think in the mould outdated people”, He said.
Just last week in Asaba, the Commissioner for Sports in Bayelsa State, Daniel Igali who doubles as the President of Nigerian Wrestling Federation shocked the whole world when he disclosed that despite the billions of Naira which has been coming to the Federal Ministry of Sports, the Wrestling Federation has not received a single kobo in the last 12 years.
With that frustration, he vowed never to contest for that position again.
The question is who and who benefitted from the funds that the ministry has been getting over the years. Who benefitted from the N12 billion released by President Tinubu.
That aside, will the Minister’s probe help Nigeria to prepare well when Federations are not getting fund to prosecute their programmes. Will the Minister’s probe help avoid a fire brigade approach to competitions which is what we are known for.
Revelations after the Olympics showed that the 36 sports in the Country are short of manpower, standard equipment.etc
More so is the leadership of the Federations which have been isolated all along and that prompted them to distance themselves from the just concluded National Youth Games.
No wonder, Adelabu concluded that the probe is a distraction from the main issues facing sports in the Country.
A critical look at the terms of reference of the Egypt president and that of our Sports Minister’s calls shows two worlds far apart.
Nigerian sports is bedevilled with rot which goes beyond paying lip service through an unnecessary probe. This is playing to the gallery.
The Minister should as a matter of urgency, channel his energy on the deterioration of the sports industry, notably under his watch. It is a sign of more structural problems to come unless he does the right things. Take a look at the various stadia owned by the Federal Government from Enugu to Kaduna, Bauchi, Lagos and Abuja and you will discover that nothing seems to be working. What of corruption, bad governance and a total disregard for grassroots sports development by the present regime in Abuja, yet they claim billions of Naira has been released.
The Minister should pay attention to renovation and maintenance of stadiums, training centres and other Sports related facilities.
The issue of inadequate funding should be looked into and that of non release of funds to Federations is not acceptable.
The area of poor governance, corruption and mismanagement of resources should be totally discarded. It leads to poor decision making and lack of accountability.
It is an open secret that our athletes are not well paid and training grants not released to them, thus leading to lack of motivation.
Eno should restructure the terms of reference of his probe panel and think rightly, for crying out loud.
