Sports Ministry, Nigerian Olympic Committee, Sports Federations/Associations and the Politics of Olympic Games

By Dr. Salau D.F(Dee Elf), NUGA Publicity Liaison Officer 1993-2001

I listened with rapt attention to the lamentations of the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh recently on television on his Frustrations on the control and coordination of the Nigerian Olympic Committee and the Sports Federations under the Sports Ministry.

Nigeria has 39 Sports Associations/Federations out of which 24 of them are affiliated to the Nigerian Olympic Committee. The remaining 15 are ordinary sports Associations/Federations. The Associations are affiliated to their international bodies. Most of these sporting Federations are to be run with the constitution of their international bodies.

It is easy to know that the Minister is very new to the Sports Arena and the Ministry. It also shows that subsequent governments in Nigeria toys with the most unifying force in the country, Sports. Little attention is given to the overall head of the Ministry that will direct the affairs of one of the most influential Ministries in Nigeria today.

Out of the numerous Nigerians that have competed for Nigeria in sports at different levels, manage sports at different levels or wrote sports as journalists to the highest level, we could not get one out of them to be our Minister of Sports Development. This has been the bane of our Sports Developments all along. Ministers always come to learn on the job. Some, even after a year or more are still grappling with the rudiments of sports organisational structures and politics.

Imagine if one of Chief Segun Odegbami or Falilat Ogunkoya or Kanu Nwankwo or Adokie Amesimaka or Tijani Yusuf is appointed Nigeria’s Minister of Sports today, he already knows what to do and the politics involved in managing the Federations under him. He/She will not lament on how the relationship will thwart his policies and objectives having passed through one of these Federations or Associations.

I went down to this basic issue due to the neglect sports always face when it comes to the appointment of Ministers. Can’t Nigeria go for professionals to run our Sports Development Ministry? Are all former Sports Professionals out of politics that they can’t be considered to breathe life to the Sports Ministry.

Sports they say is life and as everyone wakes up and walks, you take part in Sports. In Nigeria, it’s the most unifying factor to all the Citizens. The hope of millions of Nigerians are always hinged on our representatives in various sports such as Athletics, Basketball, Football, Table Tennis and others. The negative response by Nigerians all over the world to the poor and lack of medal’s performance at the just concluded 2024 Paris Olympics in France shows how sports touched the people.

The Sports Minister who knows that he has to ensure competent people are elected to lead and be in the board of Sports Federations and even NOC will never lament his relationship with them. The relationship is symbiotic as the Minister needs the Federations while the Federations also needs the Minister. It’s not a one way traffic of breathing down the throats of the Federations since they have international constructions guiding them.

Now is the time to rejig our sports administration by involving professionals both at the head of the Ministry and as NOC/Federations. With this, the Ministry and the sporting Federations will work in tandem on the progressive development of sporting talents in the country. We should stop paying lip service to Sports development in the country by appointing round pegs in round holes. It’s then that our new talents can be discovered and trained to blossom and make us proud in Sports at all levels including the Olympic Games.