allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Adamu - No Joy (Page 1 of 2)

I WONDER if you were among the old codgers who detected an error on this page last week.

We included Emma "Vancouver" Ifeajuna among the four high jumpers who jointly established a high jump record, one sunny Saturday afternoon, at the Obalende Police Grounds in Lagos.

The name in the fourth slot, actually, should have been Guobadia who, ironically, happens to be my relation. With Edobor, Bello Osagie and Majekodunmi, they erected a ceiling of 6 foot five, at the high jump, over all Africa.

Ifeajuna came barely a year later to make it all more respectable with an additional quarter of a foot. Thanks to J.B.Ogufere and Peter Osugo, genuine old-timers, who quickly pointed it out. Now, anyone who does not know who those two are, may retire right away to the Business Page; he has no business here.

Go over those high jumpers' names very slowly again, and you will observe that no less than three of them are Edo names. That was the way it used to be. The record that was broken earlier belonged to Garrick, also from that part of the country, a record he set at 6 foot 3.5 when he was still a student in King's College, Lagos.

That was also a West African record. In fact, the area that would later became known as Bendel - an acronym devised from the combination of Benin and Delta, virtually ruled the country in the jumps. What is more, Nigeria likewise towered above the Sub-region in the field events.

This was the legacy that has gradually dwindled almost to nothingness, whilst the experts into whose incompetent hands it fell continued to watch helplessly.

Today, we are left with only the sprints to boast about in African athletics. The Kenyans and other East Africans have persistently dominated the world in the long distances without having much to show in the sprints or in the field. But they hold on to what they have and continue to improve with time.

The secret of their success is an open one: They retain their focus and preserve their sights on a cherished objective upon which they have built their pride in international athletics - victory in the long distance events.

That was exactly what the former athletics officials - the coaches, the organizers, the managers et al - were also preoccupied with.

The sprints were glamorized, the jumpers were lionized, and other events and performers were only there to make up for the count. Perhaps that was when we should have done something also about the middle and long distances which we seemed to have carelessly neglected. But it would have mattered little if only we had retained what we had.

Now, when you consider this woeful mismanagement of talents and opportunities, one is not witch-hunting in any way, but merely seeking to deposit the responsibility where it rightly belongs.

The organization was in the hands of volunteers and officials of the Welfare Department, and they were men whose enthusiasm was matched by their vision. But when ministries were introduced to take the place of departments, it was felt that sports had come of age enough to have a niche of its own.

And rightly so. That was what brought in the "experts" who continue to proclaim their worth only on the merit of their university qualifications, as our fortunes declined indeed by degrees.

We need to assure our sportsmen and women at this time that, critics as we may be characterized, this page only aims, and will continue to aim, our shafts of censure specifically at those who should take the responsibility for the comprehensive decline in our sports.

So, when that FIFA member, WAFU President and Director-General of the National Sports Commission all rolled into one, my good friend Dr. Amos Adamu, attempts to befuddle the issue of criticism as to its direction, we would advise him to look into the mirror. We have always made it clear that we do not believe that he is an asset to the progress of our sports development.

There is nothing personal about it. He is a fine gentleman, for all we know. But his connection with our sports fortunes has brought us little joy. We can make so much room for his being a human being and so liable to human errors, but we are entitled to demand certain standards of achievement from him as the over-all boss of ALL sports in this country.

Between him and his protege whom we helped him to install in charge of football, too many gaps of insufficiency are left wide open to our disgust. Sani Lulu never hesitates to demonstrate his abysmal ignorance of what his office entails as the chairman of the game we all love. His latest gaffe is his absence at the grand testimonial football match staged in honour of Austin Okocha last weekend.

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