Lagos — Senate President David Mark yesterday in Abuja called on sports administrators to go back to the drawing board to transform the country's sports.

Mark made the call at the opening of a two-day public hearing of the Senate Committee on Sports and Social Development.

Mark, represented by Kanti Bello, the Senate Chief Whip, said there was a need to embark on a full-scale investigation of the management of sports in Nigeria.

"The issue of sports management in the country is a major concern to the government," Mark said.

He said the senate decided to embark on the investigation because of the shoddy performance of the Super Eagles at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.

He said: "This will check a recurrence of failure arising from poor performance as witnessed in the last Nations Cup.

"There is a need to go back to the drawing board so as to identify mistakes and proffer solutions to avert such mistakes," he added.

Mark asked the committee members to do their work without fear or favour, restating the government's determination to provide an enabling environment for the development of sports.

He said that the government would partner with stakeholders to exploit the country's enormous sports potentiality to restore Nigeria's lost glory in sports.

Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, chairman of the committee, said the public hearing was not to witch-hunt anybody but to identify problems and proffer solutions.