Nigeria@50: Galadima demands more attention for sports

This charge was given yesterday by the former Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association, NFA, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima in an exclusive interview with Trustsports. The sports administrator said Nigeria should be grateful to the sector as he said that despite the myriads of problems which have continued to threaten the existence of the country, sports […]

This charge was given yesterday by the former Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association, NFA, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima in an exclusive interview with Trustsports.

The sports administrator said Nigeria should be grateful to the sector as he said that despite the myriads of problems which have continued to threaten the existence of the country, sports has remained the only unifying factor.
He said during sporting competitions, Nigerians usually abandon whatever differences that exist among them to give support to the athletes representing the country.

Galadima however noted that Nigeria has not been able to make maximum use of its potentials in sports because the country has not been able to fashion out a blueprint for sports development.

He said the country lacks direction as far as sports development is concerned just as he observed that the situation has been made worse by endless crises in the different segments of sports.

“As we celebrate our 50th independence anniversary, we must be mindful of the role that sports has played in keeping us together. We must thank God that we are still one and credit goes to sports. As a unifying factor, sports has been able to save threatening situations that have been created by other sectors like politics.

“Even as we can beat our chest and celebrate, we can not pretend that all is well with the important sector. We have not been able to live up to our potentials in sports because of lack of clear vision and focus. In addition, different segments of sports are enveloped in one crisis or the other”, he noted.

Galadima maintained that the future of Nigerian sports is still bright but there must be conscientious efforts to address issues that have bedeviled the sector with the government showing more commitment.

He Said: We must go back to the drawing board to get things right. Government must show more commitment by providing the enabling environment for corporate organizations to come in and sponsor sports. There must be a clear cut vision and focus on the part of those who have been assigned the responsibility of administering sports”.

He added that even as Nigeria once dominated in sports like weightlifting, wrestling, table tennis and sprints on the continent of Africa, the story is no longer the same because there is not definite direction to follow.

“We have given up hope on long distance races and even other sports like weightlifting, wrestling, table tennis and boxing which Nigeria was a force to reckon with on the continent, the story is a pathetic one.

Galadima therefore advised that government should henceforth appoint only knowledgeable sports administrators as minister of sports to arrest the present trend where those who know next to nothing about sports are posted to the sensitive ministry and are left at the mercy of unpatriotic and self serving sports ministry officials.