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How Lamido Sanusi jazzed up Calabar Carnival

This year’s Calabar
Festival climaxed on Monday, December 27 with the colourful annual
carnival, perhaps now the most famous in Nigeria. Having had the
equally spectacular children carnival and cultural parade the previous
day, it was the turn of the senior bands to dazzle spectators with
their floats, costumes and dances.

And they didn’t
disappoint. The five bands; Bayside, Masta Blasta, Seagull, Freedom and
Passion4, gave people who either sat or stood along the 12-kilometre
carnival route enough entertainment to last them till the next edition.
Thousands of people stayed to watch the procession, supposedly Africa’s
largest street party, from the start point at Millennium Park till it
terminated at dawn on Tuesday at the U. J Esuene stadium.

Governor of Cross
River State, Liyel Imoke, in the company of his wife, Bauchi State
counterpart, Isa Yuguda and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria,
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi amongst others flagged off the procession almost
two hours behind schedule. He later explained what caused the delay.

“The official start
time is 2pm and yesterday (Sunday) the carnival bands had problems
because of the rain. Their floats had been damaged so the heavy rain of
the night before delayed the start of the carnival. The reason the
carnival starts at 2pm is because people trek for 12 kilometres. When
they start in the hot sun, by the time they get to the end of the
carnival they are exhausted. The bands themselves prefer the evening
carnival because it is less stressful on the human body, that’s one. A
night event, especially at the stadium, showcases much better than a
day event. The colours, the lights and so on present a much more
beautiful picture to the audience.” There was, however, no stopping the
bands once the train set off. Apart from entertaining with their
dances, music and costumes, they also gave different interpretations to the theme, ‘Our Strength and Resilience: The Bedrock of our Future’.

The bands

Bayside, the first
band off the block chose to focus on ‘Pillars of our strength’. The
band which adopted a lion as its symbol showcased the agricultural,
forest, wildlife, mineral and tourism resources of Nigeria in its five
sections.

Masta Blasta chose
to play up ‘One nation, one destination’ and highlighted Nigeria’s pre
and post independence periods. The band led by Gershom Bassey also
incorporated unity into its presentations, depicting the Yoruba, Hausa
and Igbo, Nigeria’s majority groups. Masta Blasta also made a case for
conservation, dressing its king like the endangered drill monkeys found
in the state and its queen like the Euphaedra Ferruginea (Queen of the
forest), a rare specie of butterflies also resident in the state.

Though its float
wasn’t really impressive, Passion4 celebrated the Black person, family
and personalities including the Madiba, Nelson Mandela, Marcus Garvey,
Leopold Sedar Senghor and Okot P’Bitek amongst others. Seagull Band
reiterated the unity in Nigeria’s diversity, recalling Nigeria’s past,
present and tomorrow in music and costumes and other props.

The Nigerian Army,
Navy, Civil Defence and First Bank, sponsors of the carnival also
participated in the parade. While the Army Band made people dance with
its lively music, First Bank wowed many with its big and small
elephants. The bank also had a giant float decorated in its blue and
white colours.

Beyond banking

Kano prince,
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, showed his other side during the carnival. Those
who think running the nation’s Central Bank and quarrelling with
members of the National Assembly is all the slim banker is about, are
mistaken. He also loves his culture. Sanusi facilitated the Durbar held
as part of the carnival. 23 beautifully costumed horses and riders from
Kano, Sanusi’s home state, featured in the street party.

“It took us two
days to bring the horses here from Kano,” disclosed the Shamakin (head
of servants) to Sanusi who didn’t give his name. “I feel very happy
participating in this carnival because it is an opportunity to show our
culture and see other cultures. It’s good to show people in the south
our culture but also good to see theirs because it facilitates
interaction. Culture will unite us because we will understand each
other’s culture,” he added.

Salihu Ahmad,
another of the horsemen, described his participation as a “lovely
experience.” The rider who was at the carnival last year disclosed that
the costume of each horse costs N25, 000 while a full grown horse costs
N110, 000. Ahmad added that Sanusi also rides horses and performs in
Durbars when he wishes.

It wasn’t only
Sanusi’s men that participated in the Durbar, first held last year,
however. Three of his sons, Adams, Imam and Sanusi Junior,
distinguished from the rest by their white turbans, also joined in the
colourful, happy procession. The youngest of the three brothers
reportedly kicked against being put in a bus to be taken home after the
parade, preferring instead to continue riding with the men when the
parade ended.

Mama Bakassi’s show

The leader of the
Seagull Band, Florence Ita-Giwa loves razzmatazz and has never failed
to add colour to the carnival. Mama Bakassi, as the former senator is
called, usually brings Nollywood stars to join her band and she did so
again this year. Musician, actor and winner of Big Brother Africa-the
All Stars edition, Uti Nwachukwu and comedian, Nkem Owoh, better known
as Osuofia, joined her train. Ita-Giwa’s party which also included
artists Kalu Ikeagu and Emeka Ezeocha was hailed continuously while the
parade lasted.

Passion4 rules

Though some people
had hoped that Passion4 Band, three times winner of the carnival would
not emerge tops again this year, the band eventually carried the day.
But why wouldn’t it? All the beautiful ladies in Calabar seem to be its
members. Attired in green, with some clad in skimpy shorts and tops,
the ladies probably won the judges over with their winsome smiles and
somewhat erotic dances. The band won N10m for its efforts while
Ita-Giwa’s Seagull, despite the Nollywood stars, came second. Masta
Blasta, which float was equally not very impressive came third. Both
got five and three million naira respectively.

Seagull however made up in the junior category, emerging the band of
the year and going home with one million naira. Masta Blasta was second
and Passion4 third. The bands were judged on their ability to interpret
the theme, best carnival spirit, best float and costumes.

Nollywood and the new cinema

Nollywood and the new cinema

Nollywood is at
the threshold of a paradigm shift which may have started in 2010. Just
as 1992 is credited with the birth of Nollywood with ‘Living In
Bondage’, a modest cache of offerings on the big screen (The Figurine,
Inale, Ije, and Anchor Baby) may have started the rebirth of Nollywood.
But as to the nature of this change, it is still morning yet on
creation day.

Time will tell
whether the change is an ecdysis of the snake merely shedding its skin
or a mutation that goes down to the genes. If it is the former, there
may be nothing to cheer except the fact of the different platform –
cinema – that the movies are coming out on. But if it is the latter,
there will be lots to cheer, because it means we will be seeing changes
in the very characteristics that define (and malign) Nollywood. What
are these characteristics?

Low budgets

Budget and
gestation period are top on the list of Nollywood’s defining
parameters. Nollywood movies are low budget movies. With two million
naira, a producer can cobble together a flick. Also, the gestation
period from pre-production to marketing can be of the order of few
weeks. Somehow, the questions of budget and gestation period are
inter-connected, like an engine head and its trailer.

Low budget means
that the script cannot be properly researched or a good scriptwriter
hired. Many a time, some hare-brained storyteller is engaged and gifted
character actors are invited to listen to the story and ad-lib their
parts. Casting, set making, props and the shooting proper, all suffer
from this paucity of funding.

In contrast,
‘Inale’, one of the new films whose release signposts the new era,
reportedly cost $2.8 million (N300m) to produce. By Hollywood
standards, this figure is chicken change but in Nollywood, it is a
king’s ransom. The difference is visible in the quality of the film, to
confirm our Nigerian saying that “better soup, na money kill am.”

As for duration,
‘Ije’ took 18 months for shooting alone, with locations in Jos and the
US. This contrasts with the fortnight average duration of a shoot for
Nollywood movies.

Craft

Another parameter
to be used in evaluating how much of Nollywood is to be found in the
new cinema is in the craft. I use craft here as an omnibus word that
encompasses directing, acting, the storyline, and its treatment. As far
as acting goes, Nollywood’s best can hold the candle to the best in the
world. What is lacking is the directorial capacity to lift their game.

In many star roles
of the quartet under review, it is the self-same Nollywood actors that
put up stellar performances. Whether one is talking about ‘The
Figurine’ (Ramsey Noah, Kunle Afolayan, Omoni Oboli, etc) or ‘Ije’
(Genevieve Nnaji, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde), the story is the same. One
can, therefore, posit that the problem with Nollywood is not in the
actors but the acting (excuse the pun). This is true, especially of the
A-list actors.

Storylines

As for the
storylines, those of our normative quartet are no different from the
regular Nollywood fare. Nollywood has countless stories of mysterious
jinxes to rival ‘The Figurine’. It has done too many epics to make
‘Inale’ special just on that score. What is missing from the Nollywood
equivalents is treatment that is suspenseful and filmic. Kunle
Afolayan’s ‘The Figurine’ allows you to conjecture what is happening
with the serial prosperity followed by serial tragedies as happened in
the film.

Up until the end,
the attribution of the mystery to the figurine remains debatable. The
scientific minded would say they are mere coincidences. If the film is
watched in the downtown cinema of our growing up days which had more
rowdy audiences, you could picture the hot arguments that will erupt
between teenage friends on their way out as the lights come on. That is
the purpose of art: engendering debate.

Also the false
ending or twist in the tale of ‘Anchor Baby’ is totally unpredictable
from the beginning, unlike in Nollywood where any eight-year-old
aficionado will tell you what is to happen by merely seeing Patience
Ozokwor, Kanayo Kanayo, or Jim Iyke’s character.

Being too
loquacious, as if one were using an audio medium, has been the bane of
Nollywood. In the quartet under review, one could see glimpses of how
it should be done without the need to preach too much.

Directing

In directing, our
quartet is many notches above Nollywood standard. This is
notwithstanding the limited experience of Lonzo Nzekwe (‘Anchor Baby’).
Only in ‘Inale’ could one see a bit of the corruptive influence of
Nollywood in the perfunctorily executed wrestling scenes.

Also, the
dialogues and romantic scene featuring Odeh (Hakeem Kae Kazim) and
Inale (Caroline Chikezie) before the wrestling seem to kill the
suspense and make the outcome of the contest predictable – more like
working towards the answer. The director, Jeta Amata, cannot be excused
his playful treatment of the wrestling scenes on account of the film
being a musical. His approach seems to be that of merely dramatising
the story being told by Cameron Prozman’s character to his
granddaughter. This is faulty.

In ‘Titanic’,
which uses the same technique of flashback, the film takes a life of
its own and sucks the audience so much into the “now” as to forget it
is only a flashback. Notwithstanding this minor flaw, ‘Inale’ still
blazes a quality trail in its genre with the fragrance of Bongos
Ikwue’s songwriting prowess redolent throughout it.

Across borders

With the exception
of ‘The Figurine’, the other members of the quartet all benefited from
cross border collaborations in set design, location, cast, crew and
post-production. If they are that good, it stands to reason that
collaboration is the way to go. There has to be a trans-Atlantic
handshake for Nollywood to up its game. Nollywood collabos have been
too fixated on merely showing that an Oyinbo face or London street was
captured. The budgets obviously could not carry quality actors in the
collaborating countries.

As for the
Ghanaian actors in Nollywood, they cannot uplift any standards because
they don’t have any higher or better film culture to draw from. Those
of them that have broken into Nollywood’s A-list have no choice but to
conform to Nollywood. Inale’s casting of Hakeem Kae Kazim and Caroline
Chikezie in lead roles was a well-executed move that surely rubbed off
on the musical’s overall rating. Though Nigerians by birth, both had
made their marks in advanced film cultures and were known faces
internationally. ‘Anchor Baby’ also had Terri Oliver. Nollywood’s
casting directors must in future cast their nets wide enough to
incorporate off-shore, top-rated actors to enhance the universal
acceptance of their stories and movies.

In this, maybe
they could borrow a leaf from national football where being
foreign-based has its benefits; but film has no laws against the
nationality of the players you can use.

Offshore, onshore

However, off-shore
collaboration in acting roles should not be confused with feeding our
inferiority complex. It is not necessarily because our A-list actors
are not good enough. Neither is it about having a white face or
American accent. Film is a worldwide medium and these off-shore actors
bring cross-cultural credibility to the story.

But apart from
shopping off-shore, there is a slew of talents waiting to be challenged
in the nascent Nigerian theatre and Nigerian non-Nollywood
constituencies, including Kannywood, the Northern movie market.
Nollywood and the Nigerian stage have had only limited symbiosis.
Nothing prevents the new cinema from going a-fishing in the stage pond.
Dede Mabiaku gave a good account of himself in ‘Inale’.

Before the ink on
this piece could dry, two other big screen flicks with Nigerian, nay
Nollywood, inputs hit the cinemas. ‘Between Kings And Queens’ was made
by ex-Nollywood practitioner, Joy Dickson, and stars Jim Iyke while
‘Champion of our Time’ comes with a full cast of Nollywood stars
including Joke Silva, Segun Arinze, Ejike Asiegbu, etc. Given our zest
for following trends, one should expect a hurricane in Nigerian cinema
films in 2011. It remains to be seen whether Nollywood is merely
re-inventing itself or a totally different movement is being born.

Tighten your seat belts everybody!

Mike Ekunno is a staff of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB).

EMAIL FROM AMERICA:Digital Native: More on navigating the new planet

EMAIL FROM AMERICA:Digital Native: More on navigating the new planet

In exile, I missed
my mother and as I confronted the reality of life in America once it
dawned on me,I knew that it would be a long time before I would hear
her voice, not to talk of seeing her face again. The tyranny of
Nigeria’s telecommunication company’s ineptitude did not help matters.

Exile was a
physical and spiritual absence from home. When I first came to America,
I could not afford a telephone, there was a Nigerian in our apartment
complex that owned one ,he also owned a car. He charged us to make and
receive calls and also charged to give us a ride to the grocery store.
That was new to me, the concept of charging someone for doing them a
favor ,I couldn’t understand it, I am a bush man. I will live in
America for hundred years and not understand some of her customs.

My first telephone
was a baby blue affair that I leased from the telephone company. In
those days you couldn’t just buy a telephone, you have to lease it, my
family did not have a telephone in Nigeria too and so on some dark days
I would clutch the receiver wondering what it would be like to hear my
mother’s voice on the other end. It is a long way since the early
eighties, I have had an Internet account since 1993 and I joined the
first ever Nigerian list-serve ‘Naijanet’ in 1994. Dayo Ogunyemi, who
was then at MIT founded Naijanet in 1991. I still have goose bumps when
I remember some of the exciting and brainy things Nigerians did on
Naijanet and its dozen or so spinoffs, some of which became powerful
vehicles for pushing the agenda of the prodemocracy movement during the
Sani Abacha years of darkness. We now have the democracy years of open
looting and darkness but that is another story.

I am a digital
native. If it is not on the Internet you really have to pay me to go
get it. I have made some of the best friends on the Internet and
whenever I meet with someone in flesh for the first time, I am reminded
of the power of the spirit. It never fails; it is always as if we have
known each other for ever. Technology also makes it easier to be in and
out of relationships because people have more options and you have to
work harder to earn their attention. The world is suffering from an
attention deficit disorder because folks are suddenly finding out that
they don’t have to be with each other when they can simply reach out to
others with their fingers. I always half-joke that when I am driving
around with my children, the car is usually overloaded with their
friends coming in to the car via their cell phones’ monitors. They are
texting nonstop. They are on Facebook constantly. There are now 500
million people on Facebook – the equivalent of a subcontinent. It is
said that all Nigerians is on Facebook and from my perch, I think it is
only a slight exaggeration. I am amazed at how much Facebook and Skype
have empowered Nigerian women and children and offered them choices and
opportunities to express themselves in ways that they never could
imagine a few years ago. It is a good thing.

What the Internet
has done for Nigerian literature is phenomenal. I am enjoying myself
immensely. Traditional Nigerian publishing is virtually comatose, its
sole purpose being to trash the dreams and aspirations of talented and
gifted Nigerian writers. It just seems that all these “publishers” do
is staple together raw manuscripts without as much as editing a single
sentence. There are bright spots like Cassava Republic but I am almost
tempted to urge Nigerian writers to stop patronizing Nigerian
publishers. The products are mostly atrocious and unreadable. Do not
judge the writers until you have seen their true works on the Internet.
On the Internet, they shine. Many scholars wax eloquent about JP
Clark-Bekederemo’s classic 1960s poem, Ibadan: “Ibadan, running splash
of rust and gold – flung and scattered among seven hills like broken
china in the sun.” I have seen Facebook status pieces that would give
that great piece a good run for its money. Word for word, Nigerian
literature is being rescued from ineptitude thanks to technology and
the great efforts of some really passionate, visionary and hard working
Nigerians and friends of Nigerian literature. Collaboration among
Nigerian writers and artists is unprecedented thanks to technology. The
world seems to be one little globe sometimes.

Most evenings our daughter and her friend do their homework in our
kitchen. They chat about things teenagers talk about. Her friend’s head
stares at us from inside a laptop on the countertop, her voice filling
the house. Skype. I wish our daughter would ask our permission before
inviting friends over. At times like that, I almost miss when I did not
have to check laptops before changing into my pajamas.

Ayinde Barrister’s long goodbye

Ayinde Barrister’s long goodbye

Though the remains
of Fuji music legend, Sikiru Ayinde Balogun, aka Barrister, were buried
in his Isolo, Lagos sitting room, on the night of Thursday, December
30, it wasn’t exactly a unanimous decision. Barrister’s oldest child,
Dublin-based Razak, appeared not too comfortable with the idea of
burying his father that night.

“E wa ba broda mi
soro o, se o fe sun ti oku moju ni? Won ni won o ni sin won loni.”
(Come and talk to my brother, does he want to sleep next to the corpse
till day break? He is saying [Barrister] won’t be buried today), one of
the daughters of the deceased, with an Alfa (Muslim cleric) in tow,
said as she passed by.

Minutes before the
corpse eventually arrived at 24, Lamina Lawal Street, by 9.44pm,
another Alfa expressed similar sentiment, wondering why Barrister’s
firstborn, Razak, didn’t want the musician buried that night. King of
Fuji music, Wasiu Ayinde, the artistic chief mourner, reportedly, was
among those who prevailed on Razak to allow the Alfas lay Barrister to
rest.

Razak’s unhappiness
with the state of affairs, prior to the arrival of the corpse, was
evident as he seemed preoccupied with having an incidence free burial.
He politely declined to speak with reporters when accosted. “Gentlemen,
you all know what we have been waiting for since yesterday. It is when
it arrives and is laid to rest that I will be happy and you will also
be happy,” he said, promising to grant interviews as soon as the burial
was concluded.

Waiting for Barrister

The remains of
Barrister, who passed away at a London hospital on December 16, had
been delayed in the United Kingdom due to flight disruptions caused by
bad weather. Scheduled to return to Nigeria on Wednesday, December 29,
the arrival was the subject of much confusion, with spokespersons
giving conflicting information about the exact whereabouts of the
musician’s body and the Air France flight conveying it.

Thousands of fans
kept a two-day vigil at the Fuji maestro’s home as family members and
well-wishers waited, before his remains finally touched down at Murtala
Muhammed International Airport on Thursday evening.

A carnival-like
atmosphere prevailed around the deceased’s home, popularly known as
Fuji Chambers on Wednesday and Thursday. Though there was heavy police
presence on Wednesday to forestall breakdown of law and order from the
mammoth crowd, the numbers swelled on Thursday.

Men of the Lagos
State’s Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) squad joined regular and mobile
police in controlling the crowd which filled the whole of Lamina Lawal
Street on Thursday. Some fans who couldn’t find space on the street,
found alternatives on the fences of houses close to Barrister’s while
some climbed the decked roof of a two-storey building not far from Fuji
Chambers

While only
Barrister’s music was played on Wednesday while people awaited the
corpse, there were live performances and tributes on Thursday. Smart
traders also made brisk business selling souvenirs including CDs,
calendars, fez caps and polo t-shirts to the crowd including
Barrister’s extended family from Ayeye, Ibadan; Iwo in Osun State; and
the Salawe family of Lagos.

Performances

Ewi exponent,
Sulaiman Ayilara, popularly known as Ajobiewe, paid tributes to the
deceased in rich Yoruba lyrics before Ganiyu Sebutu, one of the three
anchors, gave a lowdown of Barrister’s albums and the history behind
each. The rough talking Akinola Eko, a KAI official, and Azeez
Abdulrahman, were the other anchors.

Tessy Yembra, who
danced to Barrister’s famous ‘Fuji Garbage’ video in 1988, entertained
waiting crowds with the dance again, 22 years on. She also disclosed
how she met the late musician. They met at Club Arcade after she
returned from Madrid, Spain, before Barrister requested that she dance
in the video. Yembra, who also danced for Shina Peters and some other
musicians, described Barrister as ‘father and mentor’.

The maestro’s
military past was recalled by a trumpeter blowing ‘The Last Retreat’
before Islamic musicians started a praise and worship session
(Asikiri). The Twins Alaka from Mushin opened the session with a female
singer coming next. Kutibi Anobi, head of all Muslim singers in Isolo,
involved the crowd in his own session. Another musician, Fatai Pele,
entertained the crowd with some songs from Barrister’s 146 albums.

Waka Queen, Salawa
Abeni, who was also at the house on Wednesday, was short of words when
called to address the crowd. “We must still thank God. It was his time
to leave. May Allah grant him Aljanat,” she said. Salawa ended her
address with ‘Ori Mi Ewo Ni Nse’, an old Barrister song.

Memories

Some members of the
public also testified to Barrister’s impact on their lives. Sakinat
Ajao, who started crying before she completed her speech said, “Alhaji
made my wedding day memorable in Iwo with his performance. We were
distraught when we heard Alhaji died…”

Sekinat Popoola
Williams, who made people laugh with her somewhat affected American
accent, told the gathering of her closeness to the deceased. “It’s not
only today that we will cry for Alhaji, we won’t stop crying because of
what he stood for. Alhaji is the only one who knows how to sing my
praise; no one can do it like him. When he starts praising me, I will
just kneel down and start crying.”

Grace Modupeola
Labaran and Akeem Olanipekun, both residents in the UK, also attested
to Barrister’s sterling qualities. The duo, who were among those who
received Barrister when he arrived in London after his operation in
Germany, said they were shocked at news of his demise. Head of youth in
the area, Abdulahi Yusuf, said they will miss Barrister because he
related closely with them and was their patron.

The musicians

The clearest
indication that it would not be a repeat of Wednesday’s no-show came
around 5pm when renowned musician and Barrister’s godfather, Ebenezer
Obey, arrived with Segun Adewale. The crowd, which the bouncers and
security operatives were having a hard time with, surged on sighting
them. Adewale later told reporters that his single, ‘Tribute to Ayinde
Barrister’ was released earlier in the day. Obey said Nigerians should
not be in a hurry to know what he will do for Barrister when asked.
“I’m going to surprise the world concerning Barrister, people should
just wait.”

Other Fuji
musicians including Ayinla Kollington, Saheed Osupa, Wasiu Alabi
Pasuma, Abass Akande Obesere, Sulaiman Adio Atawewe, and Askari Fuji
started arriving thereafter. Also in the train were Dele Abiodun, Shina
Akanni Scorpido, and Ayeloyun.

Some Alfas carrying
mats started sweeping the frontage of the house, which people were
still struggling to enter, around 8.54pm before the corpse was brought
in at 9.44pm. While the widows, children, and other relatives started
moving closer before the Alfas started praying over Barrister’s
remains, the pushing and shoving by the crowd struggling to get a
glimpse of the corpse intensified. Organisers were left no choice but
to shut the gates to the house.

Meanwhile,
relatives and others, who couldn’t hold themselves any longer, broke
down weeping. Husband to Barry Made, Barrister’s daughter, who sat on
top of Barrister’s Hummer jeep parked inside the house, kept repeating
‘Lai lahi…” Saheed Osupa, who had earlier betrayed emotions, also
joined those preventing the shoving crowd from disturbing the praying
clerics.

The corpse, which was still unpacked during the prayer session, was
lifted and taken into the sitting room for burial around 10.03pm,
finally closing the chapter on the life and times of Sikiru Ayinde
Balogun.

Ten years of underachievement

Ten years of underachievement

The decade that began in 1990 and ended in 2000 was a period of boon for Nigerian sports.

In that period,
which had begun rather tamely with the country winning a bronze medal
at the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations in Senegal, Nigeria went on to record
its biggest sporting successes on the international sporting arena.

In football,
Nigeria’s senior men’s football team, the Super Eagles became one of
the most feared teams in world football after winning the Africa Cup of
Nations in Tunisia in 1994 and wowing spectators with its delectable
brand of football at the World Cup where it narrowly missed out on a
quarter-final berth after falling 2-1 to Italy. It finished the year
ranked the fifth best team in the world.

Two years later,
Nigeria’s U-23 men’s football team shocked the world at the Atlanta
1996 Olympics when it scalped world football powers, Brazil and
Argentina on its way to winning gold in the football event.

Years of triumph

In the 1990s,
Nigerian athletics, which had been flowering in the 1980s with the
exploits of athletes like Innocent Egbunike, Chidi Imoh, Mary Onyali,
Olapade Adenekan, Ajayi Agbebaku, Falilat Ogunkoya, Fatima Yusuf,
Adewale Olukoju and the Ezinwa brothers, Davidson and Osmond, reached
its apogee with Chioma Ajunwa leaping to gold in Long Jump at the
Atlanta Games on August 2. That medal, which came twenty-four hours
before the gold in men’s football, marked the first time Nigeria would
be winning a gold medal in its forty-four years of participation at the
Olympics.

Atlanta was to
prove a watershed for Nigerian athletics with our athletes winning a
total of one gold, one silver and two bronze medals. It was arguably
our best outing at the Olympics. The closest we have come since was at
the Sydney Olympics where we won one gold and three silver medals, the
gold coming by default after the United States of America, which beat
Nigeria to the gold in the men’s 4x400m had the medal withdrawn
following revelations that some of its athletes who competed in that
race had used performance enhancing drugs.

Duncan Dokiwari’s
bronze medal in Men’s Super Heavyweight boxing event at Atlanta
completed a memorable Olympics for Nigeria, its best performance in
four decades and the best overall since.

The 1990s ended
with Nigeria winning one silver and one bronze medal at the 1999
edition of the Athletics World Championship, which held in Seville,
Spain. Glory Alozie grabbed the silver in the women’s 100 metres
hurdles while Francis Obikwelu coasted to bronze in the men’s 200
metres. Both athletes were to dump Nigeria for Spain and Portugal
shortly after.

Downward spiral

If the decade that
ended in 2000 had been a glorious one for Nigeria sports, the one that
has just ended cannot be said to have been altogether successful for
the country. While there may have been spurts of brilliance and
achievement by Nigerian sportsmen and women, the nation’s overall
impact in global sports diminished considerably.

In athletics,
Nigeria, which used to hold its own against world powers like the USA,
and Britain found itself playing catch up with countries like China and
Japan, which were once considered outsiders.

At the Athletics
World Championships for instance, Nigeria has failed to land a single
medal since Alozie and Obikwelu put us on the medals table in 1999. The
stark reality is that Nigeria, which between the first edition in
Helsinki, Finland in 1983 and the Seville edition in 1999 chalked up
three silver medals and two bronze, has failed to get on the medals
podium in the last five editions.

By contrast,
African countries like Kenya and Ethiopia which are considerably poorer
than Nigeria in terms of financial resources and pool of talent, have
between them won 79 medals in the last five editions with Kenya
recording 15 gold, 14 silver and 14 bronze medals and Ethiopia chalking
up 13 gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze medals. It has been the same story
at the Olympics. Since 2000 Nigeria has only won two bronze medals in
athletics both of them coming in the relays at the Athens 2004 Olympics.

In football, the
story has been worse. Nigeria, which in the mid 1990s exerted
continental dominance in football and was dreaded globally, lost its
pre-eminent position in Africa and became cannon fodder for teams
outside the African continent. Its senior national team, the Super
Eagles in the last four editions of the Africa Cup of Nations managed
three semi-final finishes and a quarter-final ouster at the 2008
edition in Ghana under the guidance of German coach, Berti Vogts.

Drain pipe

The Eagles
performance reached its nadir at last year’s World Cup in South Africa
where it failed to advance to the second round of the tournament
despite being presented with a golden opportunity to do so. That
performance rankled Nigerians and led to calls for the disbandment of
the squad.

While exact figures
cannot be produced, it is obvious from amounts bandied in the media as
having been spent on preparing the team for tournaments that the Super
Eagles have cost Nigeria billions of naira in the last ten years with
little to show for it.

“The Eagles have
not justified the billions spent on them. The last time we won
something good… was in 1994 when they won the Africa Cup of Nations
and played at World Cup in the USA. All they have given us in the last
16 years have been bronze medals,“ said Harrison Jalla, President of
the National Association of Nigerian Footballers (NANF).

At club football
level, the game has remained rooted in mediocrity with
maladministration making nonsense of efforts by footballers playing on
the local scene, to put up decent performances.

Today, eleven years
after the professional league kicked off not one single club is
privately owned. All of them with their managements largely controlled
by cronies of the governors whose states fund them, struggle with the
payment of players’ salaries and allowances.

Internationally,
these clubs struggle to make an impact in continental club competitions
with our biggest achievement at club level in the last ten years being
Enyimba FC of Aba’s back to back victories in the Confederation of
African Football (CAF) Champions League in 2003 and 2004. Sadly, that
club, which made around $2 million from those victories, finds it
difficult today to pay players’ wages and allowances.

That should hardly
be a surprise anyway given that even the Nigeria Premier League (NPL),
the body saddled with the task of ensuring the league runs smoothly, is
itself far from organised. It has been unable to justify the N3 billion
sponsorship fund meant for running of the league. At the moment, the
body is mired in crises with its leadership being fired last week by
the executive committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)
following its inability to resolves the conflict emanating from its
election into office. Aside, the sack of its leadership, the NPL is
coping with two cases in court, one instituted by it against former
league sponsors, Globacom over the latter’s refusal to release the last
batch of funds under its sponsorship agreement and the other instituted
against the NPL by Globacom for handing rival telecommunications
company, MTN, league sponsorship rights three weeks ago.

Generally, Nigeria’s saving grace in football in the last ten years has been the performance of its women.

Despite being
repeatedly treated shabbily by Nigeria’s football managers, Nigerian
ladies have remained a source of pride to the country. The Super
Falcons, our senior women’s national team, has dominated women’s
football in a way that no other team on the continent has. Of the five
editions of the Africa Women’s Championships, which held in the last
ten years, the Falcons won four-2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2010 –
making them the undisputed leaders on the continent.

More blues

Aside football and
athletics, there was marked decline in other sports with Nigeria ceding
authority in events like boxing and table tennis, which in the past had
earned it global renown. In boxing, the exploits of former professional
and amateur pugilists like Dick “Tiger” Ihetu, Hogan “kid” Bassey
Nojeem Maiyegun, Obisia Nwankpa, Abraham “Assassin” Tonica, Hogan “
Atomic Bomb” Jimoh, Joe Lasisi, Eddie Ndukwu, Tony and Davidson Andeh,
Billy Famous, Dele Jonathan, Peter Konyegwachie, Christopher Ossai and
Jeremiah Okorodudu etc, failed to inspire a new generation of fighters
to glory.

Our performance in
the sport in the last decade has been abysmal to say the least,
reaching its lowest at last year’s Commonwealth Games in India where
our boxers were battered to submission in all their bouts. Rather than
return from the games with medals as was the case in previous
competitions, our boxers and officials came back empty-handed engaging
in recrimination and counter recrimination.

In table tennis,
our players also lost considerable ground with most of them dropping
out of the international ranking system; the same was the case for
tennis.

A harvest of ministers

One of the factors
responsible for Nigeria’s decline in global sports has been identified
as the instability of leadership in the sports establishment coupled
with what observers see as the lack of properly defined structures and
functions for the National Sports Commission, which despite being the
country’s sports governing body, is not backed up by an enabling law.

Figures show that
between 2000 and 2010, Nigeria had a total of 11 ministers of sports-
Damishi Sango, Ishaya Mark Aku, Steven Akiga, Musa Mohammed, Samaila
Sambawa, Bawa Kaoje, Abdulrahman Gima, Alhassan Zaku, Sani Ndanusa,
Ibrahim Bio and Taoheed Adedoja.

With eleven
ministers taking charge of the sports ministry in ten years, the
articulation of long term development strategies have proved difficult.
Matters have not been helped by the fact that the bulk of the ministers
had practically no understanding of the terrain into which they had
been thrust and had absolutely no desire to learn on the job. This
coupled with a clear absence of administrative acumen on their part
meant that no meaningful development could take place. These ministers
who were largely loyal members of the party in power at the federal
level of government were thus open to manipulation by crafty career
civil servants who had spent decades in the ministry and knew how to
“tweak” the system for their benefit.

“It is simply
unacceptable to have an average of one minister of sports a year for a
ten-year period. Look at the last Minister of Sports, he stayed for
just eight months and then jumped ship to pursue his political
ambition. Now, a new minister has been appointed. How can development
take place under such an arrangement,” says Dan Ngerem, a former
President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).

He says this situation coupled with the absence of a clear policy framework is “recipe for disaster”.

“We are not true to
ourselves. Nothing has really changed in the last ten years. Managers
of our sports have hidden under the umbrella of the deplorable state of
affairs in Nigeria to excuse their non-performance. I beg to disagree.
We could have done better and can certainly do better,” Ngerem said.

He noted that the way out of the morass that sports has found itself in the last ten years is straight forward.

“Government should
allow sports to thrive on its own. It is misleading and mischievous for
people to think that sports will die in Nigeria without government
funding. A few years ago we had a public -private partnership
arrangement, that’s talking about the Team Nigeria.

They killed that programme and did not put any in its place. We must
go back to it. The private sector is willing to inject money into
sports but is being held back by the lack of accountability and
transparency of our sports administrators.”

Sports

Woods still the game’s biggest earner

Woods still the game’s biggest earner

Tiger Woods has
once again ended a calendar year as golf’s top earner, despite
suffering a pay cut of $48 million after losing his swing and his
marriage and failing to win a single tournament.

The American world
number two, who celebrated his 35th birthday on Thursday, topped Golf
Digest magazine’s annual list for 2010 with overall earnings of $74.2
million.

Of that, only $2.29
million came from tournament purses with the rest accumulated
off-course through endorsements and appearance fees.

Fellow American
Phil Mickelson was second with total earnings of $40.18 million,
followed by Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman fourth and Jack Nicklaus fifth.

Jim Furyk, who
collected a $10 million bonus for winning the PGA Tour’s season-long
FedExCup in September, was sixth on $23.58 million.

Other players
featuring in the top 50 included South Africans Ernie Els seventh and
Gary Player eighth, Britain’s Lee Westwood ninth and Ireland’s Padraig
Harrington.

Overall earnings
were compiled by Golf Digest through interviews with agents, players,
executives of companies involved with endorsements, industry analysts
and also via the official money lists of the leading professional tours.

In 2009, Woods led
the standings with a mind-boggling $121.9 million but his earnings have
dipped following his unexpected fall from grace after being engulfed by
a sex scandal.

The 14-times major
champion spent much of 2010 unsuccessfully trying to repair his
marriage and also undergoing the fourth swing change of his career.

His troubles led
such firms as AT&T and Accenture to end sponsorship deals, costing
Woods up to $35 million in annual revenue.

He ended his PGA
Tour season without a single title for the first time since he turned
professional in 1996 and was deposed as world number one by Britain’s
Lee Westwood on November 1.

However, since
Woods joined forces with Canadian swing coach Sean Foley after the PGA
Championship in August, his form has steadily improved and he remains
the biggest drawcard in the game.

He is still paid more than $60 million annually by Nike,

Electronic Arts,
Procter & Gamble’s Gillette, Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets unit,
LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s Tag Heuer, Upper Deck and TLC Laser
Vision Centers.

Pull quotes: only $2.29 million came from tournament purses with the
rest accumulated off-course through endorsements and appearance fees

Sports

Showing the women’s game respect

Showing the women’s game respect

In
the just concluded year, Nigerian women footballers were the toast of
the nation, the African continent and the world at large.

While the Falconets
reached the finals of the U-20 Women World Cup; the first time any
African women’s team would get to the finals of any FIFA World Cup, the
Flamingoes made it to the quarter-finals of the U-17 World Cup in
Trinidad and Tobago, before they were eliminated by South Korea.

The Senior National
team also tasted victory within the year. The Super Falcons coached by
Eucharia Uche, a former member of the team, reclaimed the African Women
Championship title they lost to Equatorial Guinea in 2008.

Superlative performance

The Falcons hope to
ride on the euphoria of the victory to this year’s FIFA Women World Cup
scheduled to take place in Germany between June and July.

“We have a good
team and what is important is that we are constantly improving. In
football, there is always room for improvement, and as we focus on the
World Cup, we will look at correcting our past mistakes so that we can
put on a good show at the finals,” Uche said.

The Super Falcons have had stellar performances over the years, starring in every World Cup and African Women Championship.

While they have
been crowned African champions six times, they have not been able to
carry that same form to the World Cup. Uche hopes all that will change
in the 2011.

For the said
improvement to happen, followers of the game believe there is the need
for a constant infusion of players from the women’s national league,
whose administration presently does not boost confidence of players and
club owners alike, into the team.

NFF gets a vote of no-confidence

Eddington Kuejebola, foremost supporter of women football and founder of Ufuoma Babes, is not happy with trends in the football.

“The Nigerian
Football Federation (NFF) when thinking of football does not think in
the long term and I think that is one of the things that would keep
football from growing in this country and for us as female football
lovers that is very discouraging”.

Another club owner,
Makbeth Esezobor of Makbeth Queens, which plays in Division two, which
does not start until sometime in April, also has some concerns.

“There is so much
uncertainty in the women’s football league. I am not even sure there is
a women’s league with the way they disregard us (players and owners).
Do not be surprised if the league [division one] which they said would
start in January does not begin. A lot of the club owners are already
discouraged”.

Esezobor added that his club has found a way to get involved in competitions without necessarily playing in the League.

“For us, we do not
usually wait for the NFF. What we do is look for tournaments where we
can compete in the course of the year. There is nothing that can be
done in the league without sponsorship. Something should be done to
save the female football.”

John Zaki, a
women’s football enthusiast advised the NFF to make funds available for
the league, saying it is the only way to save women football.

“If the NFF is
serious about helping the women’s league, the first thing they should
do is get assistance from the government and corporate bodies for it.
We rejoice when the Falcons win, but what is going to happen after the
league from where the players are picked eventually dies off?” he asked.

Zaki, who manages the Tin City Queens, hsaid he is in the process of registering the team to play.

Despite being one
of the oldest clubs in women football, Tin city Queens have been
inconsistent because of the inability to settle financial obligations
to players at different times of the club’s existence.

Endangered team?

The Super Falcons
have been a dominant force in African women’s football for two decades,
but many believe there would come a time when such dominance would wane
if enough is not done to help the league.

Many of the Falcons
may be on the verge of retirement and replacements have to be found if
the team is to remain relevant in future.

Uche has said she
aims to bring in young players from the cadet teams and the grassroots
and considers herself a product of the grassroots noting that if she
had not been discovered, she may not have had the opportunity of
playing at the international level.

One common call
from players and club owners alike is the need for funding and the need
to organise more tournaments that will encourage the players.

Kuejebola cites the example of the paltry prize monies awarded to winning teams.

“Do you know that
the cash prize for winning the Challenge Cup in 2009 was N200, 000
only? Do you know how much is spent on the players throughout the year?
How do you share that kind of money? The NFF should find sponsors for
the league. I think that would solve a lot of problems there,” he said.

Zaki agrees and advocates for more tournaments.

“There should be more competitions organised to help female football
develop but I tell you in a situation where the present tournaments are
not even funded how can we have new ones? Therefore, it is important we
put first things first to save the women’s league in our country”.

Sports

Lagos Polo celebrates Xmas with Santa Cup

Lagos Polo celebrates Xmas with Santa Cup

The Lagos Polo
Club, ended the year 2010 on high as the Santa Cup Tournament took
centre stage on Boxing Day. The high profile event which attracted a
capacity crowd to the legendary Ribadu Road Polo theatre in Ikoyi
brought down the curtains as the last tournament of the year.

The highly
successfully one day event pitted four equally matched low-goal teams
comprising an exciting mix of established names and upcoming players,
and was the highlight of the club’s Boxing Day celebration.

The Santa Cup debut
threw up an exciting competition and a fun filled evening for the club
members and their families as well as invited guest. This followed on
the heels of the recently concluded Lagos Captain’s Cup tournament
which was decided two weeks ago, with eight low-goal teams battling for
honours.

Lagos Keffi parading Robert Toumajean, Edmund Higenbottam,

Obafemi Otudeko and
Ahmadu Umar won the Captain’s Cup, while Lagos Obalende boasting Bowale
Jolaoso, Bode Makanjuola and Jamilu Mohammed, finished as runners-up.

The only female
player in the Captain’s Cup cracker, Toyin Martins, helped her Lagos
Victoria Island side to win the subsidiary PMC Cup; just as Ayo
Olashoju-led Lagos Apapa won the PMC runners-up prize.

Some of the notable
names who vied for honours during the Santa Cup event include, Ayo
Olashoju, Bode Makanjuola, Muyiwa Sonubi, Musty Fasinro, Osaro
Giwa-Osagie, Adamu Yaro, Sahabi Tukur, Ali Saffiedene and Lukman
Adebayo.

Others are Bashir
Dantata (Jnr.) Tunde Karim, Kehinde Soyannwo, Yinka Alakija, Tajudeen
Saro, Yemo Alakija and the greatly improved Kayode Awogboro.

Inaugural champions

At the end of the
Boxing Day rumble, Super Sleighs outpaced others to make history as the
inaugural champions of the debut Santa Cup. The top shooting Super
Sleighs led by the all rounder Adamu Yaro, defeated the hard fighting
Mustie Fasinro-propelled Mistle Toes 2-1 in the final to carry the day.

Super Sleighs
parading Muyiwa Sonubi, Osaro Giwa- Osagie and Kayode Awogboro who
scored the first goal of the tournament, had earlier defeated Fire
Crackers featuring Ayo Olashoju, Tunde karim, Lukman Adebayo and Sahabi
Tukur in the opening game to pick the final ticket. Mistle Toes quartet
of Tajudeen Saro, Yemo Alakija, Kehinde Soyannwo and Mustie Fashinro
that clashed with Reindeers in the second game of the day, were lucky
to snatch the final ticket ahead of Reindeers whose defender, Ali
Saffeidene was injured in the second chukker of the game, leaving Yinka
Alakija, Bode Makanjuola and Bashir Dantata (Jnr.) without cover for
the rest of the crunch game.

Height of the excitement

The final game,
which was decided over two sudden death chukkers was a fiercely fought
game that kept the capacity crowd cheering from start to finish.

Papa Polo, Adedapo
Ojora was as master of ceremonies kept pumping up every second of the
final to the delight of the crowd. Former President of Ibadan Polo
Club, Asumi and Lagos Polo President, Dolapo Akinrele were on hand to
decorate the winners and the runners-up during the Prize Presentation
where all the participating players went home with glittering Santa
Gold Cup souvenirs.

The presentation ceremony was followed by the usual annual Xmas party that last well into the early hours of the next day.

According to Bode
Makanjuola who is the secretary of the Polo Management Committee and
the Grounds Member, The Santa Cup Tournament which was funded by
contributions from members, is planned as an annual fixture on the
club’s calendar, to mark the Christmas holidays.

Apart from
celebrating the yuletide season, the Santa Cup which was well received
by both the players and the crowd is an exciting addition to the series
of local competitions hosted annually by the highbrow polo club.

Together with the
Captain’s Cup and the President’s Cup, these three events come in handy
for Lagos players who throng these exclusive tournaments in their
droves as part of the long build up for major Nigerian Polo Federation
(NPF) sanctioned tournaments scheduled for early next year.

The build up will
be concluded with the forthcoming President Cup, scheduled to gallop
off this weekend, helping to put both the players and the ponies in
their best competitive shapes as they hit the road for the Niger Delta
Polo Festival in Port Harcourt and the Ibadan annual tournament, before
returning to their Ribadu Road base for the Lagos International Polo
Tournament.

Sports

Deaths in the decade

Deaths in the decade

In
the last ten years Nigerian sports has been diminished by the deaths of
some of its sports men and administrators. Here are some of those who
departed.

Ishaya Mark Aku (died May 4 2002): was Nigerian Minister of Sports in the first tenure
of President Olusegun Obasanjo. He died in a plane crash in Kano on his
way to watch an international friendly match between Nigeria and Kenya.
Aku was appointed Sports Minister in February 2001 and organised the
Nigeria Football Association (NFA) to become a semi-independent body
that relied less on government funding. He disbanded the Super Eagles,
the National team, after they performed poorly at the 2002 African Cup
of Nations in Mali.

He was appointed
head of the Supreme Council of Sports in Africa. Working with Patrick
Ekeji at the Sports Ministry, Aku started to reduce the emphasis on
football and to encourage other sports.

Dokun Abidoye: Nigeria’s Pillar of Sports and President of Youth Sports Federation of
Nigeria YSFON, Abidoye, died in 2004 at the age of 55. He was said to
have died of cancer.

Patrick Okpomo (died in 2004 at the age of 60: three-time Secretary-General of the
Nigeria Football Association (NFA) and leading official of the
Confederation of African Football (CAF) was one of the most respected
football administrators to have come out of Nigeria. He was there for
three years (1984-1987), stayed out for two years and returned to the
same position in 1989. The following year, he had to leave again,
forced out by the infamous ‘Long-Pants Scandal’ that swept out the
Yusuf Ali-administration.

Stephen Akiga (Died
September 2004): was Minister of Sports between May 2002 and May 2003
after the death of Ishaya Mark Aku. In August 2002 Akiga admitted that
Nigeria was having difficulty in preparing to host the 2003 Africa
Games, but said that a bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games was being
planned. In January 2003 Akiga announced that Nigeria had formed a
committee to prepare the bid for the 2010 soccer World Cup. In May
2003, during the delay before Obasanjo named his new cabinet following
the elections, there were reports that workers in the Sports Ministry
had embarked on “serious fasting and prayer” to ensure that Akiga was
not reappointed. Akiga died on 6 September 2004.

Sam Okoye (May 1,
1980 – August 31, 2005): was a football goalkeeper who represented
Nigeria during the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. He reportedly
died in Tehran, where he was living, after a few day’s illness, four
months after his 25th birthday. The cause and circumstances of his
death were unclear and Iranian authorities did not release his remains
for repatriation and burial in Nigeria until May 2006.

Samson Emeka
Omeruah (August 14, 1943 – December 4, 2006): was a retired air
commodore, a former governor of Anambra State and a former three-time
Minister for Information, Youth, Sport and Culture in Nigeria during
the regimes of Buhari, Sani Abacha and Abdulsalam Abubakar. He was once
the chairman of Nigeria Football Association and is regarded as its
most successful one. He returned to the position in 1994, in time to
see the Green Eagles make their first World Cup and win the 1996
Olympic gold medal. He was one of the advocates of privatising the game
in Nigeria and removing control from state governments. He died in
London after a brief illness.

Yemi Tella, (Born
1951 – Died 2007): coached the U-17 football team to World Cup victory
even while battling with lung cancer. A trainer from the National
Institute of Sport, he took over the Youth team a few months to the
tournament in Korea. He was the third coach to win that title for
Nigeria. He finally lost the battle to lung cancer six weeks after his
victory in Korea.

Isaac Akioye, (Born
1923 – Died 2007): The first Nigerian to earn a Masters Degree in
Physical Education. Akioye was an astute sports administrator and
mentor. During his tenure, Nigeria would have won medals in 1976
Olympics but for a boycott of the game in support of the liberation
struggles in South Africa. During his time Nigeria had the best set of
athletes.

Nine female
footballers and two of their coaches died in an automobile crash in
December 2008 in Dorowa village, near Mangu in Plateau State on their
way from a football match. Their vehicle went up in flames following
the crash and they died on the spot.

Oyo Orok Oyo: (August 27 1922 – September 2008): The first Nigerian to serve on the
executive committee of the world football body, FIFA.

Oyo, in his
lifetime, served as the vice-president of the Confederation of African
Football, CAF, and was the longest serving secretary-general of the
Nigeria Football Association, NFA. He was also the first Nigerian
member of CAF and FIFA executive committees.

Ewa Richard Henshaw (died in 2009 at the age of 89): The first player to lead Nigeria out
for an international match. Henshaw captained the Nigerian team to tour
England in August 1949. He was a prolific scorer in his playing days
and led Marine FC to win the Governor’s Cup (now known as the
Federation Cup) in 1945. He also featured for an amateur club in
Cardiff in 1950. He quit football in 1952.

Joseph Orjiakor, a
Nigerian kick-boxer died in February 2009 after losing in the final of
his event during the Sports festival in Kaduna. His death was said to
have resulted from the delay of organisers to offer him medical
attention on time. As a result athletes threatened to withdraw from the
games.

Endurance Idahor (August 4 1984 – March 6, 2010): was a Nigerian football player who
played for Sudanese club Al-Merreikh. On 6 March 2010, Idahor collapsed
during a league game and later died on his way to the hospital. In
2003, he scored 12 goals for Julius Berger and moved in 2005 to
Dolphins FC. Idahor also played for the U-23 Nigeria national football
team.

Raheem Adejumo (Born 1923 – Died 2010): The former president of the National Olympic
Committee from 1987 to 1997. He was president Lagos Lawn Tennis Club
from 1976-1979 and President of the National Lawn Tennis Association
for 15 years. Adejumo was instrumental to adding tennis as a sports
played in the Olympics. He died in his sleep.

Emmanuel Ogoli (1989 – 12 December 2010) was a Nigerian professional footballer who
played as a left back. Ogoli played in the Nigeria Premier League for
Bayelsa United and Ocean Boys. On 12 December 2010, Ogoli collapsed on
the pitch while playing for Ocean Boys, and died later in hospital.

Sports

RED CARD: Getting sports administration right

RED CARD: Getting sports administration right

And so by the mercy of God we find ourselves in another year.

Like last year,
this year is a loaded one for sports. What this means is that our
athletes from footballers to sprinters will have their hands full in
2011.

As usual, whether
they excel or not may not come down to whether they will be willing to
use their talent to the glory of their fatherland. It will surely come
down to whether our sports administrators would be willing to change;
to put the national interest over and above their stinking narrow
interests.

That is clearly
what will determine whether Nigeria’s flag will flutter beside the
medals podium at major international sporting competitions this year.

But this year will
not be about competitions alone. There a number of issues that need to
be resolved this year if we hope to have any measure of stability in
Nigerian sports going forward. The most crucial of these issues will
have to be the status and structure of the National Sports Commission
(NSC).

As conceived by
those who support the idea of a commission over the sports ministry,
the NSC is supposed to be the brain box of the sports establishment,
initiating policies and programmes, co-ordinating activities and
setting benchmarks for sports development.

To do this
effectively, it will need competent professionals who are not
necessarily sportsmen (but it will help if they were for they will
understand the need for urgency in certain matters), to drive the
process of ensuring that assembly plants producing talent across the
country are oiled consistently so that Nigeria becomes a top sporting
nation able to hold its own with other global sports powers.

As presently
constituted, the NSC cannot meet these challenges. In the main, its
direct connection to government particularly with its head being a
politically appointed individual has robbed it of the needed latitude
to operate effectively. One of the dangers of the present arrangement
as we have seen, is the fact of instability of tenure. With ministers
coming and going with amazing rapidity (we have had 11 ministers of
sports in the last ten years while the NSC has had five chairmen
between 2008 and now), there is no way programmes can be carefully
thought out, let alone implemented, no matter the intelligence or good
intentions of those in charge of affairs at the commission.

The NSC Act, which
is presently being worked on must address this issue. It should seek
ways of giving the NSC some measure of autonomy from government.
Essentially, a board presided over by a chairman with a fixed term of
say, four years, will go some way in creating conditions necessary for
planning and execution of programmes.

Without this, there
is no way we can hope to make any meaningful progress. In the sports
commission, there are a lot of intellectually sound individuals who
have not be given the needed platform to put their talent at the
disposal of the nation. By and large they have vegetated at the
commission because the system has not seriously challenged them to be
productive. We must get the best out of them.

Lazy bones

Aside the NSC Act,
another issue needing resolution is the relationship between football
and government. We may shy away from it; we may consider it unimportant
but the stark reality is that without resolving the question of whether
or how much government should be involved in the running of football,
we will keep having the kinds of crisis that brought the game to its
knees in 2010.

In this regard, the
2004 NFA Act known to most Nigerians as Decree 101 is key. That act
gives government leeway into football administration by virtue of its
funding of the sport. Over the years there have been strident calls for
the repeal of that act to enable individual with both knowledge of the
game and administrative acumen play leading roles.

Such calls have not
been heeded principally because there has been reluctance on the part
of the FA officials, who too are lazy to get off their butts and source
for funds for the administration of the game, secretly lobby to have
action stalled on the matter while openly professing dislike of the
power the act gives the NSC to interfere in its affairs.

At the other end of
the spectrum are NSC officials themselves who benefit from the system
in the way they control the funds meant for the federation. Not to be
forgotten of course are members of the National Assembly whose
reluctance to repeal the act is fed by the trips they embark on once in
a while courtesy of either the football federation or the NSC.

Whatever the
drawback, the truth is that we cannot continue like this. Something has
to give or elsewhere we remain stuck in the mire. While the truth
remains that given the structure of our society and the role football
plays in empowering Nigerians, government should be involved in it in a
way, it must be noted that the present arrangement whereby officials of
the federation wait on government for handouts clearly does the game no
good.

Football is big
business globally, but sadly, Nigeria lags behind for the simple reason
that continued government control throws up misfits whose understanding
of football administration is that it is a pathway to financial
breakthrough.

The crises, which crippled Nigerian football last year would have
been prevented if we had individuals ready to work for the development
of the game in charge of football administration. We must therefore
open up space for the right individuals to come in.