Time to change our sports culture
If David Cameron was a Nigerian politician he would still be in British Prime Minister today. Unlike our sit-tight political office holders, Cameron resigned when there was no real pressure for him to do so. He did so because it was the “right thing to do”. Having led the Conservative Party to defeat over the […]
If David Cameron was a Nigerian politician he would still be in British Prime Minister today. Unlike our sit-tight political office holders, Cameron resigned when there was no real pressure for him to do so. He did so because it was the “right thing to do”. Having led the Conservative Party to defeat over the BREXIT vote he knew someone had to take responsibility. The buck stopped at his table and he “fell on his sword”. This is akin to the Japanese tradition in which failed leaders commit Hara Kiri (ritual suicide) as a way of apologising to their followers, and atoning for the disaster they midwifed. Cameron found it easy to do the right thing because he wasn’t enjoying a particularly lavish lifestyle as a Prime Minister.
He wasn’t engaged in endless rounds of social events; wasn’t accumulating choice plots of land in the nation’s capital; wasn’t syphoning funds into overseas accounts; and certainly wasn’t building mansions or hotels in his locality. He was sacrificing both his time and energy taking the duties and responsibilities of office seriously and having sleepless nights. In such circumstances it’s easy to take the decision to resign honourably. The failure of our athletes in the recently concluded Rio Olympics has led to calls for heads to roll and officials to resign.
But this is Nigeria not England and no one should expect anyone, let alone the Minister of Sports, to take responsibility and do the right thing. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports who inexplicably was part of the “official delegation” to the sporting occasion said resignation is alien to our culture. After the debacle of the 2012 London Olympics where we also failed to win a medal, nobody resigned. Instead time and money was wasted on a “Presidential Sports Summit” which cost N2 Billion. It was a waste of time and money and no plan was put into action.
Unsurprisingly our sporting outings have become a tale of woeful failure. Nigeria’s lack of medals wasn’t because we no longer know how to run fast, box, lift weights, jump long or high, and play table tennis all of which used to bring us medals and international glory in bye-gone years. In Rio there were over 15 athletes born of Nigerian parents who won medals representing other nations. Sportsmen and women representing Nigeria lack basic training facilities, equipment and expert coaches. They aren’t supported and Sports officials concern themselves with their personal financial welfare.
Shoddy preparation coupled with irresponsible and incompetent administration were the immediate causes of the Rio 2016 debacle were and this was well publicised internationally. Our football team was stranded, our athletics team kit didn’t arrive on time for the opening ceremony, our national anthem was the wrong one, officials were nowhere to be found when athletes were competing, and of course there was the usual financial hardships occasioned by late payment of allowances. Long before the games, those in the know predicted failure. We are a nation that believes in prayer more than proper preparation. Students who haven’t studied pray before failing exams, football teams that haven’t trained pray before losing, and athletes pray before being beaten. It’s trite that failing to prepare means preparing to fail. There is no need for another expensive Senate probe.
The root cause of our failure has been identified as the haphazard appointment of people with no professional training or skills into top sports management positions. Successive sports ministers have failed to understand their job. They concentrate on attendance at international sporting events rather than developing sports at the grass roots level. Investment in sports must be encouraged and companies which are quite happy to throw millions at musical artistes with no real talent who don’t show good example, must be encouraged to support sports development. The point that modern sports is an international billion dollar industry with opportunities for both mass employment and youth development has been overlaboured. The total collapse of our sporting culture has led to a continuous diet of overseas football matches. It’s virtually impossible to see a group of Nigerians watching tennis, basketball, cricket, or golf all of which are sports which give rise to mass employment and in which successful sportsmen and women become millionaires. Rather than waste time apportioning blame to people who have no intention of resigning and making way for those who actually know what they are doing, we must develop a template for complete overhaul of our sporting culture.
Our focus must shift from participating in competitions to concentrating on sports development. Sports must return to primary, secondary schools and Universities and every local government should demarcate a land mass of sufficient size for development of a sports facility which will include all sports pitches, gymnasiums, basketball and tennis courts. In line with the “Change Agenda” it is time to change our sports culture and encourage people to lead active lives, recreate and stay healthy whether or not we have international sporting success.