NSC and future of Nigerian soccer

That is why a recent comment by the Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Mr Al Hassan Yakmut in respect of the challenges facing Nigerian soccer, is not helpful, given his pedigree and status. It also betrays a more profound disconnect between the operational philosophy of the NSC which he heads, and the […]

That is why a recent comment by the Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Mr Al Hassan Yakmut in respect of the challenges facing Nigerian soccer, is not helpful, given his pedigree and status. It also betrays a more profound disconnect between the operational philosophy of the NSC which he heads, and the challenge of moving the country’s sports to the next level.
According to Yakmut, Nigeria’s recent poor performance in international soccer competitions was due to poor coaching which in turn was caused by the inadequacy in the training of coaches. He blamed the National Institute of Sports (NIS) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for providing only short-term programmes for indigenous coaches. Mr Yakmut noted that the absence of an organized and standard coaching development programme for all sports, which would avail the country qualified coaches in all departments, was not a good strategy.
Yakmut’s comments raise two grounds for concern. First, in his capacity as the principal driver of sports development in Nigeria, his views about sports development and the performance of the NSC should ordinarily be taken seriously, and can hardly be disputed. However, his misgivings about current level of sports development and the performance of the NFF should have been accompanied by strategic countermeasures that he may have recommended to address them, because the entire sports superstructure is under his statutory brief. His comments amount to lamenting over an issue that is within his area of duty to fix.
The expectation from him is not far-fetched as he is not a stranger to the NSC, or to the issue of sports development and administration in Nigeria. Until his appointment as DG, Al Hassan Yakmut was the Director of Grassroots Sports Development in the NSC, beyond the fact that he was also once the captain of Nigeria’s national volleyball team. He also served as liaison officer for the NSC to the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPL), and the NFF. The issue, over which he is now playing the ostrich as DG, was actually under his operational purview in the immediate past.  Hence, if with such pedigree all he has to offer in respect of tackling problems of development of any sport is a blame-game, it is unfortunate and puts his judgement to question.
It is true that sports development in Nigeria has hydra-headed challenges; Mr Yakmut does not need to look far off for where to start any remediation programme. It is no secret that there is a frosty and some say adversarial relationship between the NSC and the various bodies under it such as the NIS, along with all of the sports federations, including  the NFF.  A case in point is the fact that the NSC wanted to abort the recent unveiling of Oliseh by the NFF, citing non-compliance of his contract process with the Procurement Act of the Federal Government. Where then was it when a body under its administrative purview was considered to be breaching the law?
Rather than lament, Yakmut needs to commence the process of building bridges between the NSC and its fellow stakeholders such as the parastatals under the agency, the state ministries of sports, and in particular the various sports federations.