While to some the uncoordinated, disjointed, fabricated cocktail of half-truths and "Olympic size" lies being propagated may be seen as distracting, the truth is, it's only a sign the cleaning process started by the Minister to reposition sports is touching the deepest part of the rot and disturbing the air for the "Kings and queens" of the sports kingdom that held the nation aground, refusing to let it rise and achieve its potentials.
Minister Dalung is hardly a year in office yet, he's being blamed for Nigeria's inability to add a grain of success and consolidate on the efforts of successful sportsmen and women who, over 3 decades ago placed Nigeria on global sports map with podium performance in Atlanta, USA. Just like any aspect of the Nigerian system undergoing holistic review for necessary adjustment to enhance functionality, sports is no different and it would be foolhardy to assume public response would be any different. It takes courage and crocodile skin to upset an established order especially when the alternative spells economic doom to its beneficiaries.
Despite his enormous success in restoring peace to Nigeria and re-inventing the army to fit into agenda of perfection and professionalism, Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Buratai is among the most vilified Nigerians in print, electronic and social media. I don't expect anything less for Minister Dalung. Honesty and patriotism will forever remain a burden in a society consumed by greed, deceit and absolute disregard for approved social and moral norms and traditions.
Anybody with promising determination to shut the leaking valves of the Nigerian system to trap what's accruable for the benefits of the larger majority is a fair game in the hands of a few army of hangers-on whose source of livelihood is permanently determined by the porosity and loose ends of our extant laws; laws designed to help the system work but tranquillised and made ineffectual by succession of demons who survive exclusively on corruption.
I take solace in the fact that efforts are yielding results. Of course, nobody will be accusing Minister Dalung of incompetence if the Olympics harvest is bumper; if the usual coterie of "sports analysts" are in Rio on a full paid Government sponsored package. Yes, no one will be around to blow the horn of defeat being blown by our "erudite" sports commentators and analysts. Most of them by now would be in Rio mailing second hand stories to their institutions from the romantic comfort of Brazilian beaches. Most of them may likely return to Nigeria without knowing the venue of a single major event. To most of them, success is in the pocket not in the fields.
For how long we intend to remain on a mentally controlling yoke of media servitude is something to be determined by our resistance to false pressure and our insistence to keep our brains domiciled in our heads and maintain our default settings complete with ability to sift right from wrong. We don't have the binary option of being orally upright and practically corrupt. You are either chicken or fowl. In this race one is either a hound or a hare. The deceptive art of hunting with hounds and running with the hare was what brought us to this sad state of stagnation.
That we have mavericks with ability to subdue primitive instincts of wealth accumulation and revolt against a culture of corruption to correct the system and make Nigeria operate on the same terms and conditions that made even lesser endowed nations great, is something to be appreciated by the focussed and the foresighted while keeping eyes open to detect the wayward and deny them a chance to destroy our ambition for a better nation.
Rather than chasing shadows, shouldn't stakeholders concentrate on identifying reasons the Sports Ministry is tagged a bastion of corruption? By doing this we may unearth causes of Nigeria's predicaments as far as sports development is the issue. We shouldn't restrict assessment of sports administration to the man at the helm of affairs in the country or the Ministry. A situation where a "critic" will expend enough energy to rival what incinerated Hiroshima/Nagasaki trying to prove a Minister's "incompetence" using nothing but daily humanly slip of tongue, at best it's unfortunate and at worse, repugnant aside being a threat to intellectualism.
A lot is at stake for us to risk reducing sports administration and development to this comical, pitiable and personal level. While the debate rages, I expect intelligent questions like:
Why should joint efforts of the Vice President, Prof. Osinbajo, Minister Dalung and his colleagues, Ministers of Information and Finance, Lai Mohammed and Kemi Adeosun respectively failed to see Team Nigeria in the air even after a hefty sum of N80.000,000 was paid by the Ministry of Youth & Sports to an NFF appointed agent who NFF entered into an agreement with to camp the Team in Atlanta, USA on what they told Minister Dalung was a "full sponsored" arrangement which details he was neither privy nor part of?
Why should NFF insist on arranging for the transportation of Team Nigeria when all of the sports federations complied with the directives of the Ministry and allowed Angie Taylor, Director High Performance of the Ministry to arrange for the bookings of their sportsmen and women which Taylor did excellently without a hitch? Perhaps, we may get to know why NFF refused to give the Ministry the name of the airline to be paid the requested $174,000 (N80,000,000) in line with the Minister's pledge to ensure probity but rather chose to give theMinistry the name of the supposed "agent" in charge of transporting Team Nigeria to Brazil.
Despite the seeming premium value attached to sports by the fire breathing Sportswriters, no one seem concerned why a 30 sitter chatter plane wasn't large enough to convey the Team. Only then people will begin to see the contributory role of those in charge like Coach Siasia who made their family members part of Team Nigeria. Why should there be wives and children of officials on a chatter plane intended to convey the Team to beat time. By the way, is it the responsibility of the Ministry to convey family members of players and officials failure of which resulted in blackmail? The President was emphatically clear that anybody who have nothing to do with sports will not be sponsored to Rio by the government without exception. Are NFF officials and players above a presidential directives?
Considering the sustained baseless attacks on Minister Dalung, I couldn't help but agree with the opinion of a seasoned sports analyst and stakeholder, Gara Gombe who opined that an army of "e-dogs" have been released in the cyber-jungle to attack anything "Dalung" just to cover misdeeds inimical to the success of sports administration which the Minister left no one in doubt about his ambition to uncover and, which expectedly is giving some people sleepless nights. One doesn't need to be the brightest of the sportswriters to ask relevant questions that could nail the culprits behind the travails of Team Nigeria in Atlanta and save Nigeria from such embarrassments in the future.
The pledge by the Minister to go to the bottom of this problem and ensure Nigeria get a fair deal should not be taken as empty. Dalung is determined to go out clean as he came in. Assuredly he will get to the bottom of this and Nigerians would get to know the sad details of the "Olympic size" mischief at play. Please stay tuned!
Maiwada Danmallam
Special Assistant
Honorable Minister, Youth & Sports
An American sports marketing company wants to introduce Bubble soccer to Nigeria after the success in South Africa. How can we contact the Hon. Minister of Youth and Sports by email?
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