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The new minister of
sports Ibrahim Isah Bio yesterday revealed that there will soon be a
sports summit, the first of it kind in Nigeria, to find solutions to
the problems facing sports and produce a road map that will take
Nigeria back to the pinnacle of sports.

Speaking in
response to calls by journalists for a sports summit, Bio agreed that
the call was in line with his thinking and machinery will soon be set
in motion for the summit.

Bio was sad at the
level of decay of facilities in stadia across the country, especially
the National Stadium, Lagos, the neglect of sports at the grassroots,
lack of programme and planning for elite athletes, among other
problems, and he agreed with member of the sports family on the need to
urgently have a sports summit where they will sit and examine the
challenges of sports and the way forward.

A five year plan
will be decided at the Summit as regards the development of sports in
Nigeria. All members of the sports family, administrators, coaches,
sports journalists, athletes and others are expected to add their
inputs.

Bio said the
outcome of the summit will be the Bible of sports in Nigeria, “new
minister may come and go but the policy and guideline fashioned out at
the summit will remain, they may thinker with, there won’t be any
radical change in the sports policy that the summit will fashion out.”

Attempt at disguise

Unlike other
ministers before him, Bio got to the National Stadium at 10.00 am.
Journalists who had expected the minister to be late but he surprised
them by coming early as promised.

Due to the
minister’s visit, the Stadium Manager, Alalamu Abolore stopped petty
traders from displaying their wares but the garbage heap could not be
hidden from the ministers, and he promptly told the manager to clean
the mess in the stadium.

When one of the
boxers who trains everyday at the stadium was asked why he was absent,
he said they were told on Monday not to come to the stadium to train
because of the visit of the Sport Minister. Yemi Adepoju one of the
stadium trader who did not display her wares said one official said
they don’t want to them to hang around, as the usually dirty
environment must look clean for the August visitor.

Perhaps the
minister knowing that all might not be as it seems, when addressing the
press said he is not on a doctored visit, and he will not let the DG
direct him to what he wanted him to see, but that he will go inside the
stadium to see the level of rot himself.

State of facilities

Bio who could not
hide his disgust for the state of facilities which has been allowed to
degenerate by successive ministers promised to give the edifice a face
lift before going into partnership with would-be investors.

“The facilities
does not speak well of the country and much needs to be done to improve
its state. If we want to produce athletes that would win medals for us
in international events then we have to provide a conducive environment
for them to do so,” he said.

The minster visited the Sports village, which was built to aid camping of athletes.

At the sports
village, he complained about the soak away, water reservoir and dining
hall which had no dining table or chair. And he ordered that the place
should be put in shape in two weeks or its managers risk losing their
jobs. The minster also challenged the management on the sorry state of
the edifice, the gymnasium, table tennis courts and the main bowl
amongst many other places, in the National Stadium.

After the
inspection, while addressing journalist, he assured that he will not be
a football minister but a minster for all sports.

Football versus other sports

He added that his
focus will be primarily on sports in which the country has comparative
advantage and opportunity of winning multiple medals. “Football can
only fetch us a one medal, I will like to concentrate on sports like
athletics were we have many medals at stake, swimming, boxing,
weightlifting and the likes,” he said. The minster however pointed out
that the FIFA World Cup is his immediate concern, as the tournament is
barely 50 days away.

According to the
minister, a technical team has been sent to inspect the facility in
place for the Super Eagles camping in Durban while the team’s coach,
Lars Largerback is also expected to brief him on the readiness of the
team.

Bio enjoined everyone to unite in lifting sports in the county, as it has proved to be a unifying factor for the people.

He promised to be firm in his policies stating that there will be no sacred cows.

“There would be no
sacred cows, those that have been alleged on corruption would all be
investigated.” He hinted that the missing $236,000 from the Nigeria
Football Federation would be revisited and appropriate action taken.