Nigerian team sports have suffered in the past eight years, with missed opportunities and declining performance. Professionalism in sports administration is needed for improvement.
Disappointment of Nigeria’s absence at Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup will linger in the minds of Nigerians far beyond President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure. Although the green-white-green flag was hoisted among 32 contenders at the 2018 edition of the World Cup in Russia, the failure to make it to Qatar 2022 hurts sport-loving Nigerians the most.
This is because, on paper, Nigeria’s opponent in the last qualifying round, Ghana, was among the weakest of the 10 contenders for Africa’s five slots for the first World Cup to be held in the desert. Qatar 2022 was also the first World Cup to hold off the regular football season. But the World Cup miss mirrors team sports’ dismal outing in the last couple of years.
Since then, governments have continued to pay lip service to the development of a sector, which has proven to be a source of unity for the country. Sports have repeatedly shown that the country can indeed be united on a common ground. D’Tigress, Africa’s most successful women’s basketball team of the past two decades, had qualified for the World Cup after defeating France and Mali in Group B of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia. But FIBA replaced them with Mali, when Dare engineered a needless two-year suspension of Nigeria from international basketball. He refused to listen to the sterling plea of Nigerians, who wanted the issue resolved amicably.
The girls, who abandoned training following protest over non-payment of their allowances and match bonuses, only picked a World Cup ticket to Australia/New Zealand 2023 FIFA World Cup as fourth-placed team. For years, Nigerians will not forget the confusion that led to the sack of Gernot Rohr, and the subsequent appointment of Austin Eguavoen. It was a sad development that cost Nigeria a 2021 AFCON medal, and a World Cup ticket.
Grassroots sports also went underground under the Buhari’s administration. Some say it was completely dead. What happened to the Principals’ Cup, a football competition for secondary schools? A few years back, the Principals’ Cup was still active in Lagos with the support of GTBank. But it has gone under.
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria was culpable because they failed to guide the athletes. The affected athletes staged a protest on the streets of Tokyo, painting Nigeria’s image bad. Through his adopt-an-athlete initiative, Dare was able to raise huge amounts of money for athletes in the build up to the Tokyo Olympic Games. Till today, Dare takes special pride in the strides attained by the likes of Tobi Amusan, Ese Brume and Blessing Oborodudu.
Tokyo 2020 Olympics – Wrestling – Freestyle – Women’s 68kg – Medal Ceremony – Makuhari Messe Hall A, Chiba, Japan – August 3, 2021. Silver medallist Blessing Oborududu of Nigeria poses with her medal REUTERS/Leah Millis Sadly, the money disappeared without a trace. It got to a point that the House of Representatives had to summon Dalung over the alleged ‘disappearance’ of the $150,000 grant.
Under Dare, Nigerian athletes went to Nairobi, Kenya and finished third on the overall medals table at the 2021 World Athletics U-20 Championships. It was the best ever achievement by Nigeria in the history of the championship. Last week, Dare took a self-appraisal of his administration in the last four years and said: “I came into office to shake the table, put in place the necessary things that have taken us to a new height in the journey so far.”
The shortfalls noticed in the sports section in the last four years, notwithstanding, President Buhari lauded Dare recently for the medal-winning efforts of several Nigerian athletes. Adelabu, a sports scientist, said that the Federal Government is yet to understand the power of sports, hence, the levity with which it treats the sector.
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