By Dr. Salau D.F (Dee Elf)
The effects of the recent changes in the sports circle in Nigeria from the prison Ministry of Sports to National Sports Commission is yet to be felt at the different sports level in the country.
President Bola Tinubu at his last cabinet reshuffle scrapped the Ministry of Sports replacing it with the National Sports Commission. He then appointed Alhaji Shehu Dikko as Chairman and Mr Gbenga Elegbeleye as the Director General.
The focus of bringing back the National Sports Commission in August 2024 by the President was to ensure rapid sports developments and a total turn-around for better sporting activities in Nigeria.
Since the inception of the National Sports Commission in August 2024, not much has been heard from the Commission. No new policy has been introduced to ensure red tape-ism foot dragging in the sporting Arena.
In the good old days of the National Sports Commission, sports policies are geared towards catching them young from the rural areas. The country was divided into different Zones with effective coordination of the Zones.
The policy of Catch them young introduced commences through Intra Zonal sports competitions from Primary Schools to Secondary Schools known as School Sports.
The secondary School version was the ‘Academicals’ with several talents discovered taken to Inter Zonal Competitions before the final National Sports Festival.
Budding talents in popular sports such as Football, Athletics, Basketball, Table Tennis and Volleyball were massively discovered and nurtured. The big National team players of today in different sports went through the rudiments of the National Sports Festival.
I Still remember vividly my Invitation and that of Olalere Adeyemi from my Secondary School to the Liberty Stadium as part of the Footballers invited into the Oyo State Academical’s team during Chief Bola Ige’s governorship tenure in 1980.
Pupils graduated from Primary Schools to Secondary Schools doing one sport or the other. But today, things are different. We refused to allow our sports men and women to grow systematically. We prefer to register them at different Sports Academy with no facilities or the required qualified officials.
We need the new National Sports Commission to go back to the basics. Give the needed financial and moral support to the Zones within themselves and between themselves before coming to compete at the National Sports Festival.
With quality facilities, proper training and early exposure of the athletes, it will be a matter of time before Nigeria will be competing and winning at the highest level. With commitment and proper training by the National Sports Commission Nigeria will be great in Sports again. May God direct our minds to the right path.
Dr Salau D.F (Dee Elf) a former NUGA Publicity Liaison Officer (1993-2001) writes from Lagos and can be reached on 08023065052 or daudasalau2015@gmail.