Nigeria and lessons of FIFA fraud allegations

But questioning of the US action and its time has intensified in the days that followed. Improper motives are being attributed to the move which question the legitimacy of the action, particularly when it was launched on the eve of the FIFA’s executive committee elections, in which FIFA president Sepp Blatter stood for a 5th […]

But questioning of the US action and its time has intensified in the days that followed. Improper motives are being attributed to the move which question the legitimacy of the action, particularly when it was launched on the eve of the FIFA’s executive committee elections, in which FIFA president Sepp Blatter stood for a 5th term; and the FBI’s heavy-handed approach designed to give maximum, wall-to-wall media coverage of the allegations and arrests is suspect. 
Russia, which has been having a faceoff with the West over last year’s annexation of the Crimea and the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, blasted the action, accusing the US bellyaching over Russia’s successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup. The US lost the bid to host the 2018 bid to Qatar, much to the consternation of many Western countries, some of which accused the Middle Eastern country of bribing FIFA. Qatar is benefiting from the FIFA policy, vigorously pursued by Blatter, of taking the World Cup tournaments to regions that have been left since they began decades ago. Also echoing the anti-FIFA stand of the US is the American Jack Warner, one of the indicted officials, who pulled no punches when he accused the US of using the FBI operation to express its anger over losing the2022 bid.
Arguments by US officials that the arrests were proper because the offences were allegedly committed through its financial institutions and on its soil are considered too thin to withstand close scrutiny, even in US courts. The FBI’s razzmatazz failed to impress the rest of FIFA board, whose members went ahead with the election at its headquarters in Zurich and returned Blatter, even though the Americans let it be known that more arrests of FIFA were in the offing.
The US action is clearly an overreach of its legal boundaries. It is taken its global policemen role to ridiculous and even imperialistic level. If the FBI had a serious case, it could have turned over its findings to Switzerland and other countries that it claimed political and sports officials made the bribe payments.
It is appropriate that Mr Blatter has declared that the award of the 2018 and 2022 hosting rights to Qatar and Russia will not be reversed. Whether Blatter steps down under pressure as it was speculated last night, his FIFA presidency brought a sense of equality among nations of the world in the global soccer arena. But for Blatter’s role, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the first time on the African continent, would not have been possible.  The FBI now claims that even that particular hosting right was paid for.
The US/FIFA debacle has significant lessons for Nigerian sports administration. The clear-cut separation between the imperative of promoting the sport and the challenges that arise from routine administrative issues is one. That cannot be said about the Nigerian sports administration with the National Sports Commission (NSC) at the helm. Beyond the traditional organizational lethargy of the NSC, which makes it depend almost exclusively on government largesse for its operation, the deep-seated culture of sleaze and corruption all through its system, is often acknowledged but rarely acted upon. 
In spite of huge statutory allocations to the agency, advances in Nigerian sports are facilitated more by the commitment of individual athletes and private sponsors than by the government-funded NSC. It is usually bogged down with infighting and junketing round the world by its officials in the name of talent scouting, and at the expense of development of grassroots sports at home. None of the sports federations under the NSC enjoys any of its financial assistance, with some of them routinely rented out to willing collaborators for nefarious purposes, including visa racketeering through the trans-shipment of fake athletes to foreign tournaments, from where they emigrate illegally.
The new administration in the country needs to take a cue from the FBI operation on FIFA, though overzealous, and look at the NSC if its efforts at taking Nigerian sports to the next level will materialize, and wean it from the apron strings of government.