South African Football Association (SAFA) President Danny Jordaan was arrested on Wednesday over allegations he used the organisation’s money for his own purposes, according to local media reports.

Jordaan, who was a leading figure in bringing the 2010 World Cup to South Africa, had tried to interdict his imminent arrest on Tuesday, but the Johannesburg High Court is only scheduled to hear his submission on Thursday.

The arrest stems from a raid by police on the SAFA offices in March, after which police spokesperson Katlego Mogale said the allegations are that “between 2014 and 2018, the president of SAFA used the organisation’s resources for his personal gain, including hiring a private security company for his personal protection and a public relations company, without authorisation from the SAFA board.”

Jordaan, 73, and his reported co-accused, SAFA chief financial officer Gronie Hluyo and businessman Trevor Neethling, are due to appear in court later on Wednesday.

Neither Jordaan nor SAFA responded to a request for comment from Reuters, but in his affidavit to court seeking to block his arrest, he denies any wrongdoing.

-Reuters

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

It is over two weeks now since the return of the National Sports Commission (NSC) as the apex sports governing body of Nigeria. Beyond the naming of Shehu Dikko as the Chairman, nothing more has been made public regarding the role of the NSC and its composition.

In simple terms, what has happened so far is a mere change of nomenclature from the Federal Ministry of Sports Development to the National Sports Commission. Beyond that, Sports organisation in the country have been downgraded as the man at the apex cannot sit at the weekly Federal Executive Council since is not a cabinet-ranked administrator.

Beyond that, the leadership of sports organisation is reduced to that of sole administrator since there is no board or board members as it was when there were extant laws setting up the NSC.

Such laws included the Decree 34 of 1971 and the amended version, Decree 34 of 1979. Those laws spelt out the roles and mode of composition of the National Sports Commission.

For instance, Decree 34 of 1971 established the NSC as a replacement for the National Sports Council, which was previously a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Labour.

It did not stand in isolation. It worked under a commissioner *now a minister in the current dispensation). It had at the apex, a chairman overseeing a board with a well-defined composition.    Also, there was an Executive Committee, of which the NSC Charman is the head.

The composition of both the NSC and its executive committee was well articulated. So also, were their roles. Within the NSC, was also another board, the National Stadia Management Board which the NSC Chairman heads.

 Others include the commission’s secretary and five other members drawn from the NSC.

 Like what happens in present-day Morocco, where most of the kingdom’s owned stadiums are being kept in good condition by the state-run company, Société nationale de réalisation et de gestion des stades (SONARGES) which in English translates to National stadium construction and management company., the stadia management board in the previous NSC was charged with that same responsibility of maintenance.

As it is now, a chairman has been named for the NSC. Without a board, he becomes a sole administrator and will rule according to his understandings as the public has not been informed of any specific assignment for the chairman.

The ideal would have been the establishment of a board for the NSC and mode of composition well laid out as were the  instances with the Decree 34 of 1971 and the amended version of 1979 – Decree 34 of 1979.

Whatever the situation, the NSC deserves to have a minister of cabinet ranking for direct liaison with the Federal Government. Alternatively, the chairman should be upgraded to the ministerial position and supervision a board that will be an upgrade of the ones stipulated in the decrees 34 of 1971 and 1979.

With the Decree 7 of 1991dissolving the NSC, the nation appears to have lost track of the essence of the commission. Even when it was brought back under later regimes, it was just another nomenclature for the sports ministry as the NSC existed without a board.

Changing names from Ministry to Commission will not necessarily translate to getting improvement in sports administration.  An NSC in the present situation is just a substitute to the Ministry of Sports. It is not an alternative.

Newly appointed Chairman of the National Sports Commission NSC, Shehu Dikko says Nigeria’s journey towards a sustainable sports economy has begun.

He stated this when the former Minister of Sports, John Enoh officially handed over the affairs of the country’s sports to him in a brief ceremony in Abuja.

History is on my side

“History has a way of coming full circle because in 2008 I was a consultant to the House of Representatives and was responsible for the drafting of the National Sports Commission Bill, a job I did pro-bono and about 16 years down the line I have here with the assignment to implement the work I assisted to put together”.

” The objective of Mr President is to harness the full potential of the Sports Economy in Nigeria.

“And we have to first change our mindset from the fixation of just competitions and winning medals and come back and fix our domestic sports development”.

“When we set the foundation right the results and the winning of medals will naturally come sustainably and that should be the new mindset”.

“We cannot continue to run in cycles so we need to have a different approach from day one because in my view and indeed the firm view of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, competition is what we call  “Consumption” because we just take scarce resources and burn out abroad without any impact on the domestic sports development ecosystem and the Nigerian Economy.

” But we have to go back to “Production” which is deliberate sports development, where we set the structure right, set the framework and put together good parameters to have a sustainable sports development which will naturally give us a solid sports economy and indeed guaranteed competitive participation at all competitions and medals.

Three Pillars

” This is the reason why our administration will be focused on three pillars including running Sports as a National Asset, that is entitled to special privileges, regulations and concessions to drive growth and development to open its potential to be a key driver of the economy across all sectors, a vehicle for achieving national cohesion and projection of the positive and unique attributes of our culture and national identity “.

” We have to also work on legislations and regulations to set the framework to enable the Industry to grow effectively like what happened in the communications industry some years back”.

” The other pillar is investing in purposeful world-class infrastructures that will provide an enabling environment for Growth.

“These infrastructures must be deliberate with maintenance culture and span from world-class infrastructure for professional sports to community infrastructure to drive grassroots sports and mass participation across the country”

” The thinking of Mr President is  that after  having some of all these in place we should be able to  measure the Country’s Sports by its contribution to the nation’s GDP by at least three per cent (3%)  addition via sports and the number of jobs sports and its value chain are providing in the country in the next  four to five years and indeed our competitiveness across all competitions and tournaments”

“Thus, it’s a visionary  decision for Mr President to approve the return of the National Sports Commission to drive this  process and objectives in line with the best international practices and standards devoid of any bureaucratic bottlenecks but absolute professionalism”

Dikko concluded by outlining some of the immediate action points to drive the agenda and the mandate which includes but is not limited to the structural organization of the National Sports Commission (NSC).

The essence is to position the NSC to implement the desired policies and framework envisaged.

According to Dikko, it is to facilitate private sector participation in the sector through investment in sports production and infrastructure development.

He also outlined the restructuring and capacity-building initiatives of the sports federations for optimal performance.

Also on his agenda is the engagement of competent personnel and partners to deliver on the mandate.

This will involve policy development by putting together strategies, policies and legislations to protect and support sports development in the country.

He promised to ensure that the NSC seamlessly assume the assets and liabilities from the defunct Federal Ministry of Sports; and most critically commence the process to amend/update the NSC Act to align with international best practices, creating a professional governance framework, resolve the funding challenges of sports in Nigeria and provide the enabling environment to drive Mr President vision to create a sustainable sports economy in Nigeria.