Nigeria @ Glasgow 2014

At the 11-day tournament, members of Team Nigeria defied all odds and lifted the nation’s profile in international sports by winning 36 medals in different categories, including a new Commonwealth record in the 100 metres dash by ace sprinter Blessing Okagbare. Finishing in eighth position out of 71 participating nations, this is the second best […]

At the 11-day tournament, members of Team Nigeria defied all odds and lifted the nation’s profile in international sports by winning 36 medals in different categories, including a new Commonwealth record in the 100 metres dash by ace sprinter Blessing Okagbare. Finishing in eighth position out of 71 participating nations, this is the second best performance of Nigeria in the Games’ 84-year history.
That this feat was attained despite poor preparations highlights the doggedness of our athletes. Among the challenges faced by the athletes was the late arrival of kits. They received their kits when they were already in Glasgow, Scotland. Coming soon after the nation’s dismal outing at the World Cup tournament in Brazil last June, not a few observers had feared a repeat performance by the country in Glasgow due to what they saw as the worst preparations for an international competition by the National Sports Commission (NSC). That is why Team Nigeria in Glasgow deserves accolades, for achieving much even in the face of less than deserved resources and support. The nation’s gratitude goes to them.
The sultry circumstances surrounding Nigeria’s participation in Glasgow point to the fact that the NSC has learnt no lesson from its past missteps and failures in international sports outings, in spite of impressive allocation of public largesse to the establishment and public outcry in that respect. Preparations for Glasgow featured same maladies as with virtually all past outings. The same situation guaranteed Nigeria’s sterile participation at the 2012 London Olympics in which the country participated with an impressive complement of medal prospects but returned without any.
It is not a secret that the most important element in successful sports administration with enhanced performance of athletes remains early preparation for tournaments. Most successful sporting nations prepare their contingents early enough, even without government support, to enable predictable top performance by their athletes.
Yet sports administration in Nigeria under the NSC has failed to rise beyond the threshold of pedestrian performance even in the face of commendable support by both public and private initiatives. In the 2014 budget, the princely sum of N4 billion is allocated to the NSC for international competitions. It is also believed that at least N6 billion is availed the sporting sector through sponsorship for football alone.
It needs to be reiterated that sports, in the context of international outings, has proceeded beyond merely offering opportunities for staging jamborees, with scant focus on medals and victories. Successes in sports outings lend to national prestige, apart from stirring economic and social developments with attendant multiplier effects.
After the poor outing in Brazil 2014, Glasgow 2014 should have provided a spring board for the NSC to redeem its image of a perennially plagued institution. That was not to be. It is public knowledge that the NSC is a body reeking in administrative malfeasance, alleged corruption and an inchoate operational culture. Many Nigerians believe it is also insular to public opinion about its failures. When the issue is not poor preparations for tournaments, it will be the supply of substandard equipment and kits, or bloating of contingents to tournaments with disproportional allocation to officials, or even visa racketeering.
The challenges facing the NSC in sports administration are hardly associated with paucity of funds. Rather, the cluelessness that has been the lot of the NSC derives from attitudinal factors that feature self-centeredness of its officials. This dispensation is unfortunate as it manifests in less than optimal outcomes especially at international fora.
New as he is in office, the Minister of Sports Dr Tammy Danagogo has his job already cut out for him – cleansing the system of all untoward tendencies without minding whose ox is gored. In this respect he needs to address the issue of administration by the NSC of the various sports federations, who should actually be responsible for preparations of their athletes for competitions. The present dispensation whereby sports federations are abandoned to their fate is hardly helpful. Nigeria is waiting for his take on this.