Governing Bodies
Solomon Dalung reformed Nigerian sports in four years
BY NNEKA IKEM ANIBEZE
The story is told of the proverbial agama lizard, which fell from an Iroko tree. It looked around and when no one applauded the feat, simply nodded its head in self-affirmation and praise for successfully landing on its belly from such great heights without an injury.
So were the exploits of Barrister Solomon Selcap Dalung, the immediate past Minister of Youth and Sports Development from November 11, 2015 to May 28, 2019.
When he arrived at the Ministry on the day he was scheduled to assume office, some onlookers, including the so called ‘stakeholders’ already had a mindset about this ‘intruder’ who had come to lord it over them dressed in annoying Khaki and red beret.
Though people were of the opinion that he was not ‘one of them’ as he neither read Sports management nor Physical Education and therefore knew nothing about sports administration.
Notwithstanding, Barrister Dalung, amidst heavy barrages of abuse, stiff opposition, monstrous criticism and total condemnation in everything he did quietly but steadily trudged on.
How he peacefully slept at night with a heavyweight of insults from the public (mostly for no reason but his dressing) still beats students of cynical journalism.
One of the wonders of Nigeria’s sports history was the rehabilitation of the Swimming pool at the National Stadium which hitherto was a breeding pond for reptiles. That swimming pool had not been used in 20 years before the arrival of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Barrister Dalung studied the books and gave a deadline to the contractor. In less than a year, the pool was commissioned and is the only Federal Government owned swimming pool in Lagos till date. Before the renovation, swimmers had nowhere to train in Lagos except other private and state owned pools which denied users unhindered access for maximum benefit..
Under the Ministerial supervision of Barrister Dalung, the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development started and completed 3 Mini stadia in Dawakin Kudu, Kano State, Daura, Katsina State and Mabudi in Plateau State.
I humbly ask, when last was a mini Stadium or playground constructed by any administration? When the Minister came into office, there were several abandoned projects in the Sports Ministry as in other Ministries. The National Youth Games introduced by a former Minister in 2012 was abandoned until Dalung came into office in 2015. Worse still, was the National Sports Festival which last took place too in 2012.
With a budget of N9m, Barrister Dalung went cap in hand from one state to the other to appeal to state governors, Community and Church leaders to donate to the revival of the National Youth Games which was eventually recorded enormous success.
Over 250 young athletes were discovered in the 2016 and 2017 editions of the National Youth Games and over 300 in the 2018 edition. Ever since, the Youth Games has been sustained by the Ministry.
That 17 of the young athletes discovered from it represented the country at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina where they won 1 gold and 3 silver medals further confirms Barrister Dalung’s foresight and dogged leadership style. These 17 athletes now form the core of the new generation athletes emerging from almost all the sports.
Following the back and forward posture of Cross River State who got the rights to host the the National Sports Festival, the platform for discovering budding new athletes but was also abandoned since 2014. It wasn’t until Barrister Dalung appeared on the scene that the 6 year jinx was broken!
The Ministry organized a successful 19th edition tagged “Abuja 2019” where business boomed at the Abuja National Stadium, now Moshood Abiola Stadium, for the 10-day period of the festival.
According to Barrister Dalung, following the successful hosting of the National Sports Festival, Sports contributed to the country’s Gross Domestic Product GDP during the period of the festival which lasted 10 days.
During the period, wealth was distributed. Over 500 athletes were made instant millionaires by their various States by virtue of the medals they won.
Dalung is also of the strong opinion that the GDP report produced by the National Bureau of Statistics for the last quarter of 2018 then, would have discovered a 0.2% or 0.3% steady growth as a contribution from sports from the National Sports Festival.
The leadership of the Ministry of Youth and Sports from 2015-2019 can assert that they made a significant contributions to the economic growth of the country in 2018.
In 2017 came the real task or democratizing the 42 National Sports Federations for efficiency, accountability and professionalism. In the past, government hand picked five nominees in each federation which result was always having wrong pegs in wrong holes.
Dalung ensured that the real stakeholders were given a level playing field to contest for elective positions with Electoral Guidelines conducted by NOC and supervised the Ministry.
Today, we are reaping the dividends of a free, fair and transparent elections into the boards of the National Federations. The Minister also ensured that ‘sit tight’ syndrome was discarded with all Federations directed to come up with their Constitutions which will serve as a reference for future elections.
Consequently, Nigeria emerged African Champions in 9 sports including Women’s Football, Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball, Volleyball, Badminton, Cricket, Wrestling, Para powerlifting and Taekwondo.
Under Barrister Dalung’s administration, Nigeria became the first African country to qualify for the quarter finals of the FIBA Women’s World Cup in Spain in 2018 in 100 years.
The D’Tigress who emerged African Champions in Mali then moved their ranking from 32nd to 8th in the world. In 100years, Nigeria also qualified for the ICC World World Cup. The U-20 Nigerian Cricket team defeated know African Cricket playing nations to emerge African Champions and also book a ticket for World Cup in 2020.
In football, the Super Falcons won the 8th and 9th editions of the African Women’s Football Championship AWCON in 2016 and 2018, maintaining their dominance as African Champions nine times.
The Super Falcons also qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup ongoing in France. In 2018, the Super Eagles historically picked a ticket for the World Cup with a match to spare and also became the first African country to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Russia. They also qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt having failed to qualify since 2012.
The Ministry ensured that intervention funds were sought and released to Nigeria Football Federation for the Super Eagles qualifiers for Russia 2018.
While receiving the players in Aso Rock, Captain of Super Eagles, Mikel Obi attested to the fact that this is the first in contemporary football history that Super Eagles will be leaving for the World Cup without any problems. Dalung also met a crises of the Samson Siasia tutored U-23 team.
They were owed camp allowances and match bonuses during 2016 Olympics qualifiers for Rio while Siasia hadn’t been paid for about 5 months. Barrister Dalung ensured that the Ministry paid the players directly through their bank accounts to avoid tempering with allowances of players as has been the practice in the past.
In the same vein, Barrister Dalung ensured that all athletes were financially rewarded for creditably representing the country. For the first time, athletes got all their camp allowances in camp while $5000, $3000 and $2000 respectively were given to athletes who won Gold, Silver and Bronze during the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
Under his watch, Nigeria became World Champions in Scrabble in 2015 and won it back to back in 2017. Nigeria holds an unchallenged World record in Para Powerlifting as Nigeria’s women wrestlers are two time African Champions of the African Wrestling Championship held last in Hammamet.
The list of victories as a result of the democratization of the National Sports Federations are numerous but summarily, Nigeria won over 1,500 medals between 2015-2019, a record of none in Nigeria’s sports history.
In the Youth sector, the Minister inherited pockets of crises with over 6 youth presidents clamoring for the leadership of the National Youth Council.
Same crisis bedeviled the Scout Association of Nigeria which even led to their ban and isolation by the World Scout body.
When he came onboard, there were various Scouting associations fighting for the soul of the association in Nigeria. To God’s glory, he brought them all under one umbrella and today, there is peace in the Scout Association of Nigeria with just one leadership.
Same is also applicable to the Nigeria Youth Council. Only on May 24, 2019, National Youth Policy was reviewed and launched in Akure Ondo State which hitherto was unattended to since 2012. Similarly, the National Youth Parliament also was abandoned for 2 years was revived. The 4th Session was inaugurated on the terminal date of Dalung’s appointment as Minister on May 28, 2019.
Over 1,500 youths were trained in various states in different vocational skills and youth empowerment programs with each youth given a start-up capital despite the Ministry’s poor budgetary allocations for the programs. In partnership with ECOWAS, 20 youths were also trained in different vocational skills in Benin Republic, Cote D’IVoire, Burkina Faso, Rwanda and were also supported with start up capital.
These are a few of the modest achievements of Barrister Dalung as Minister of Youth and Sports from November 2015- May 2019. If you don’t agree that Barrister Solomon Selcap Dalung did his best with the meagre budgetary allocations to the Ministry, then one will need to look beyond rationality and normal parameters to determine the situation to suit his/her.
–Nneka Ikem Anibeze was the special assistant on media to former Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung
Governing Bodies
Sanusi set for record-extending tenure as Nigeria’s football politicians assemble in Asaba
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Speculations gathered ahead of the 2024 Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria Football Federation holding in Asaba on Friday have it that tenure elongation for the General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, is a major item on the agenda.
Neither formal confirmation nor denial has been issued since one of the leading newspapers in Nigeria, ThisDay dropped the hint.
The agenda of the meeting is also not made public. Dr, Sanusi is the longest-serving General Secretary in history having been in office from 30 March 2015 making 3,476 days or nine years six months and four days.
It easily drowned that of his closest rival in tenure – Sani Toro whose tenure from 21 December 1993 to 3 May 1999 is merely 2020 days or five years, six months and 12 days.
Thus, no one had enjoyed a longer period in office than the incumbent, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi. It is speculated that the tenure will be extended as NFF has reported that all delegates have arrived in the Delta State capital by Thursday evening.
The NFF Annual General Assembly, the first of which took place 90 years ago in Lagos on 19 February 1934, is the biggest assemblage of football administrators and stakeholders in the country.
In one such meeting on 24 July 2008 in Makurdi, the football body changed its name from NFA to NFF.
This year, according to a press release by the NFF, the plenary will have in attendance, the chairmen and secretaries of football associations in the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, chairmen and secretaries of the Nigeria Premier Football League, Nigeria National League, Nigeria Women Football League and the Nationwide League One, as well as chairmen and secretaries of the referees’ association, players’ union and coaches’ association. This group of 88 makes up the Congress.
They are joined by the members of the NFF Executive Committee and the management team as well as former NFF Presidents and General Secretaries.
The Minister of Sports Development, John Owan Enoh, is announced as the special guest. Nigeria’s Member of the FIFA Council, Amaju Melvin Pinnick is also expected as well as a representative of the West African Football Union (WAFU B).
The Governor of Delta State, Sheriff Francis Oborevwori will declare the General Assembly open.
Venue is the Unity Hall of the Delta State Government House.
Governing Bodies
Like in Egypt, former Nigerian Olympian, Sadiq Abdulahi wants Tinubu to declare ‘State of Emergency’ in Sports
Former Nigerian tennis player and Olympian, Prof. Sadiq Abdulahi has called for drastic action to arrest the decline of Nigeria in global sporting events.
The former tennis player who is now a professor in the United States declared that the “failure to win a medal at the regular 2024 Paris Olympics, the few medals at the Paris Paralympic and the fallout at the National Youth Sports Festival has exposed the deep problems facing the sport’s sector.”
He wants Nigeria to have the same approach that the Egyptian president has taken while reacting to the country’s performance at the Paris 2024 Olypics.
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered a comprehensive evaluation of sports federations that participated at the Paris Olympic Games, following a mission report submitted by the country’s sports minister.
According to Prof. Abdulahi, the National Sports Federations charged with the preparation of elite athletes have failed to do their job despite the cry for funding from the government.
“Federal Government cannot adequately fund all the Olympics sports. It is impossible.
“By declaring a state of emergency, new people, new approaches and new funding models will be identified. More importantly, the Federal Government will redefine grassroots sports development.
“We will lay sustainable foundation for sports development.”
Continuing, he called for the return of the National Sports Commission (NSC) which enabling decree was abolished through Decree No. 7 of 1991, but came back through presidential proclamation under Sani Abacha before it was abolished again.
The original NSC was established in 1964 as National Sports Council before the promulgation of Decree 34 of 1971 which legalised it as the apex Federal Government agency to control, regulate and organize sports.
“The FG may now bring back the National Sports Commission or the National Sports Authority. Our emerging national economy with the full participation of the private sector can support this new beginning. I hope this helps.”
RELATED STORY: President Al-Sisi orders sports system overhaul
Governing Bodies
CAF gives Yoruba and Arabic interpretations of ‘OLA’ the Super Cup 2024 Official Match Ball
The Confédération African of Football, CAF, has given the linguistics interpretation of OLA, the confederation’s official match balls produced by Puma which has also unveiled a special edition for the Super Cup duel holding on Friday in Saudi Arabia.
According to CAF, OLA, symbolizing the dynamic and energetic nature of African football, means “wealth,” “honour,” and “respect” in Yoruba and “rise” and “success” in Arabic.
The OLA ball stands out with its vibrant design and cultural significance. “OLA”
The ball is a mix of black and gold, representing power and sophistication. The ball will be the centrepiece of the eagerly-awaited match between the two giants of African football.
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