Season of probes in Nigerian sports

In the past, attempts made to the root causes of such untoward behaviours that pitched athletes against such unscrupulous administrators ended like water splashed on the back of a duck.At the moment, the sector is witnessing another round of probes which are meant to uncover the remote and immediate causes of certain incidents that have […]

In the past, attempts made to the root causes of such untoward behaviours that pitched athletes against such unscrupulous administrators ended like water splashed on the back of a duck.
At the moment, the sector is witnessing another round of probes which are meant to uncover the remote and immediate causes of certain incidents that have dented the image of the country and sports in particular. At the least count, there is a committee to investigate the Super Eagles bonus row; the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts is looking into the accounts of the National Sports Commission, NSC, there is also a committee to probe allegations of match fixing in the Nigerian National League, the second tier of the league and very soon a committee to investigate the recent show of shame in which four amateur clubs recorded ‘scandalous score-lines’ that have set tongues wagging will be constituted by the NFF.
On Thursday, the minister of sports and chairman NSC, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi inaugurated a seven man committee headed by Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, former Special Assistant to late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on media to unearth the reasons for the show of shame which the Super Eagles staged in Namibia hours before the commencement of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil.
Other members of the committee are sports editor of vanguard, Onoche Anibeze, ace sports presenter Aisha Falode, Akin Oshuntokun, former Super Eagles player, Garba Lawal. Hon. Abdulkadir Maman and Shehu Dikko who is the secretary of the committee.
The minister has since charged the committee to among other things determine the immediate and remote causes of the crisis over the match bonus, develop a code of conduct for players on national assignments and make any other recommendations that may be deemed necessary.
The committee was also mandated to beam its searchlight beyond the bonus row. According to the minister, most crises between athletes and administrators are caused by lack of standing codified systems as he said individuals oftentimes used their discretions in taking decisions.
However, a thing of interest is that the same NSC is facing probe from members of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts. The committee wants to know how the N3b appropriated to the commission for the past three years has been utilised. Already a former member of the House and present Director General of the Commission, Gbenga Elegbeleye and other top officials of the NSC have appeared before the committee to give the necessary explanations.  That probe is on and in the coming days, Nigerians may be able to know how the money was expended.
The Nigerian National League investigative committee is another probe that will soon commence. Following allegations of match fixing in the league, the chairman of NNL, Chief Emeka Inyama penultimate week announced the setting up of a five man committee to investigate complaints by some of the clubs that are in contention for promotion to the elite division.
The yet to be inaugurated committee has Sir Emmanuel Ochaigha as chairman and Charles Ojugbana, Paul Bassey, Toyin Ibitoye and Barrister Isaac Danladi as members. This committee is made up of credible and knowledge Nigerians but how successful they will be in carrying out their assignment is what only time will tell.
Not done with probes, the sector is going to witness the mother of all probes when the Nigerian Football Federation will finally come out with an investigative panel to look into the scandalous score-lines that were witnessed recently.
Already the football federation has placed indefinite suspension on the four clubs that perpetrated the ignominious act. Although there have been established cases of match fixing in the country, none has been as brazen as the current one.
It is too soon to forget how in a bid to gain promotion to the next division in the Nationwide League, two clubs scored 146 goals in 180 minutes of play. While Plateau United Feeders ‘manufactured’ a 79-0 victory over Akurba FC, Police Machine FC demolished Bubayero FC of Gombe 67-0.
Nigerians have been reacting to the results which clearly suggest that the said matches were fixed. Most sports analysts have decried the development and called for stringent punishment to be meted out to the four clubs to serve as deterrent to others that may in future like to smear the image of Nigerian football with such impunity.
 The aforementioned probes and upcoming ones only go to show that all is not well with the sector. The efforts being made to bring a stop to some of the problems that have bedevilled Nigerian sports appear commendable but the question on the lips of Nigerians is what will become of the recommendations to be made.
Consequently, the degree of excitement the ongoing probes would have generated has been doused by past experiences where investigations came with so much hype but yielded no results in the end.