When the first and
second list of ministers were released during the week and Sani
Ndanusa’s name was missing, sports buffs and fans celebrated.
For all his knowledge of sports, Ndanusa short’s spell was one we never pray to experience again.
His failure in all
area of sports administration and management strain the descriptive
power of any adjective. There are rumours of a final list, and members
of the sports family are praying that Ndanusa’s name will not be on
that list.
A look at the
present list reveals who may likely be the sports minister if
background is anything to go by. But who really cares about background.
Ndanusa’s failure has proved that being in sports for long does not make you a better manager.
The school of
thought that usually argues that the reason we have not fared well in
sports is because our past administrators do not eat, drink and sleep
sports before their appointment has been defeated, at least for now.
Ndanusa had a good
knowledge of sports before he was appointed, yet he is reputed as being
the worst sports minister ever since we returned to civil rule, and
that is why many are praying that he does not come back.
We will always
remember Abdulrahman Gimba for pulling down the Amos Adamu hegemony in
sports, Isaiah Mark Aku will be remembered for his battles with the
sports cabal which he won, Isa Muhammed, with all his faults, will be
remembered for leading Nigeria to win the Abuja 2003 All Africa Games,
these are guys without a background in sports.
But what can we remember a bonafide member of the sports fraternity for if eventually he does not come back.
Agenda for the next minister
One of the first
agendas for the new sports minister is to clean the mess that Ndanusa
left. This begins with salvaging our preparation for the Commonwealth
games. As today, Ndanusa and officials of the National Sports
Commission have not done anything about Team Nigeria’s preparation for
the games.
The only thing
related to the Commonwealth Games is planning to pull Team Nigeria out
of the control of the Nigeria Olympics Committee. As at today,
officials of the National Sports Commission are planning to join the
Commonwealth Games Association. The reason for this is simply parochial
and pure nepotism. The calculation is, if Ndanusa does not get elected
as the president of NOC, he will be the president of CGA.
While millions of
Naira is being spent on this project, and hosting of association
chairmen who will vote for Ndanusa in the election, athletes are crying
for training grants and money owned them since 2008. For Nigeria to
have a good appearance in New Delhi, the new minister of sports must,
as matter of urgency, pay athletes that are being owned. The likes of
Damola Osayomi, Nurudeen Salem and Halimat Muhammed, and a host of
other track and field athletes have made up their minds to boycott the
games unless their money is paid. Apart from athletes, officials and
ex-athletes are owned millions of naira. One keeps wondering what
happened to all the money appropriated for athletics in the last few
years if the federation has so much debt.
Government
resources that are being wasted on Ndanusa’s inordinate ambition to
become the NOC president can be used to pay the athletes.
But it is not just
athletics, the other sports like boxing, basketball, volleyball,
tennis, weight-lifting, wrestling, judo and other are facing similar
problems, if not worse.
The states of our
stadia are terrible. There are no facilities and equipment for
athletes, and one could go on and list the challenges.
The new minister
may not be able to solve these problems due to the shortage of time as
the administration ends in May 2011, but the new minister can avert the
pending disaster of the Commonwealth Games by paying athletes their
dues so we could win a medal or two in New Delhi.
The minister must also probe the Hoddlegate scandal and get to the bottom of the bribery scandal.
Was Glen Hoddle
lying or did the members of the panel actually demanded bribe from him.
I tend to believe Hoddle’s story because if Hoddle had played the ball,
he would have gotten the job and everybody would have kept quiet.
The new minister
must unveil the member of the panel that demanded money from Hoddle, he
must also let Nigerians know why Lars Lagerback who was earning about
$300,000.00 per annum in Sweden suddenly increased in value and he is
now going to earn $1.5 millions in five months. Who negotiated on
behalf of Nigeria, did they ask for Lagerback’s last pay slip. If they
did and saw what he earned, why the astronomic jump in salary, or was
it a case of Lagerback co-operating where Hoddle did not give them a
separate invoice for his wage and the kick back.
The task before the new sports minister is huge and I don’t envy him
at all. So who will miss Ndanusa? The cabal that are feeding from
sports, his election spin doctors and sports marketers.
Leave a Reply