Nigeria Content Online

Since
there is a time for everything, I crave the permission of regular
readers to react to comments posted via the Internet, by readers.

On October 9, 2010,
the following – very instructive, comments were posted apparently, as
reactions to the column of Tuesday, October 5, 2010.

Busman commented as
follows… “If your goal is to save Nigeria Sports please don’t place
your focus on winning the football World Cup. Over emphasis on winning
the most contested prize in sport will dilute the ability to excel in
so many other sports which are currently almost completely ignored in
this country. First we need grassroots sporting competitions in Primary
schools, in a wide range of sports. Follow it up with the secondary
schools once the talent is spotted. Pick a sport (not football) and
arrange for every Local Government in Lagos to have teams in three age
groups that are coached and compete every week. Let’s focus on getting
some athletes, tennis players, swimmers, rugby or basketball players,
back to the TOP of the world.”

Noway, posted the
following: “Please, I beg. Forget this entire God will save us
nonsense. It is another way of making an excuse for not working hard to
make things happen. Do for self. If you believe in God and you get
something done then maybe He will be happy. He sure as hell ain’t going
to do it for you.”

The last comment,
came from the Nigerian Tennis Ambassador – Sadiq Abdullahi, thus… “I
have followed your analysis, thinking and rationale on sports
development particularly grassroots development in your column for
several months. SANSI when fully launched and operational has the
potential to make an impact and play a significant role in rebuilding
our grassroots sports infrastructures. There is the need to mobilise
all interested current and ex-national and international players in all
sports including ex-Olympians to a summit on sports development in
Nigeria, similar to the one you had recently in Lagos. The sports
summit will accomplish clearly defined objectives, one of which is to
conceptualise and design a blueprint for moving forward.”

My reactions to the comments

First, I have come
to appreciate and respect what is known as the 60% rule, or factor, in
communications. This applies to all forms of communication being passed
to others, either via the print or electronic medium. What it means is
that a maximum of only 60% of your messages are well understood, or
ever gets to the reader or listener. The remaining 40% is swallowed up,
as it were, by socio-economic, political, religious, marital and
several other problems, especially in a country like Nigeria, where the
thoughts of survival and security aggressively compete for attention on
daily basis. In this sort of clime, there is the need, not only to
inform, but to over inform, so that the likes of Noway – the second
commentator above, may eventually understand what we are saying,
appreciate the philosophy driving SANSI, catch the vision and hopefully
run with it.

Second, I humbly
appeal to Busman – the first commentator above, to please check the
column of Tuesday 5th October 2010, properly. We did not in any way
suggest that focus will be on winning the FIFA World cup trophy in
2018. What we said in the column is and I quote “one of the projects of
SANSI is ensuring that this great nation wins … in 2018”.

Truth is we prefer
to operate like the charcoal fire and not like the wild bushfire. We
have been working and networking with a couple of people inside and
outside this great nation for almost eight years, on the issue of
reviving Nigerian sports. These people include very experienced
administrators, managers, coaches, sports scientists, marketers – you
name it. We have come across some “energisers” and “energy
sappers/dream snatchers” along the line. Some of our ideas have been
plagiarised. We have had to, just like Abdullahi commented very
appropriately, contend with some individuals with hidden agendas and
mighty egos.

But we are unperturbed. We are determined, focused and trusting God
for divine guidance. We believe in Abraham Lincoln’s statement, which
is “give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first
four hours sharpening the axe.” A major distraction occurred while
writing this piece. I received a text message on the bribery scandal
involving our own Amos Adamu. I quickly responded that the sender
should please remember that this is October and not April, and I will
therefore refuse to be fooled. Amos Adamu in a N125million bribery
scandal? No way. Any right thinking Nigerian should know that Adamu is
worth billions of dollars. How then could such a person, popularly
known as “Mr Fix-it” fall for such peanuts? Whether it is a very
serious allegation or not, is not important now. The issue is whether
Adamu will be able to “fix” this busy body England’s Sunday Times
undercover reporter’s story or not. Time will tell.