Patrick Omorodion
13 September 2008
There are some events that happen in our country, Nigeria, that make it impossible for anybody to convince me that we are not the most corrupt people in the world. Every passing day, we hear of one scandal or the other right from the highest level to the lowest people.
Billions of naira are carted away by both people in government and the private sector and we hear people are being investigated but nothing ever gets to come out of it, especially because powerful people are involved.
When it is one poor farmer or cattle rearer in far flung Zamfara who steals a petty item or even a thing as little as a goat or sheep, his hand is amputated, yet we know of governors who stole billions and are made to return part of their loot for freedom.
On this issue of corruption, I want to limit myself to the sports sector, the sector which is more often ignored but which is the single sector that unites Nigerians more than any other aspect of our lives.
May be because government has ignored the sector for a very long time, hence those on whose shoulders the management of the sector is put, loot it dry and leave nothing for the sustainable development of both its human and material resources.
From 1995 to date, different probe panels have been instituted to investigate the sector after discovering scandals of monumental proportions but the reports and recommendations to nip such scandals in the bud in future always found their way to waste paper baskets.
After the botched 1995 World Youth Championship, a panel headed by the late General George Agbazika Innih was set up to probe the events of the LOC for the championship which never was but for which huge sums of money went down the drain. His report never saw the light of the day till today.
In 1999, Nigeria was compensated for the 1995 failure and given the hosting right for the same championship it lost in 1995. Huge sums of money went into hosting the event but one man, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima, head of the Kano sub-seat, ever prudent in his dealings, returned unspent money to the LOC headed by then NFA chairman, Col. Abdulmummuni Aminu (rtd.) which was forwarded to then sports ministry which supervised the event. Nothing was head of that money and no financial account was rendered by the ministry on how billions of Naira budgeted for the event was spent.
After that Nigeria co-hosted the Africa Nations Cup in 2000 with Ghana and again no account was rendered. The biggest of the scandal was in 2003 when the country hosted the All Africa Games after a news magazine was bold enough to publish how government officials connived with the top echelon of the organising committee tagged COJA to swindle the country of billions of Naira.
It was even recorded that through COJA, the country awarded double contracts for the TV rights and purchase of broadcast equipment for the NTA needed for the coverage of the Games. When the then Director General of the NTA, Ben Murray-Bruce spilled the beans, instead of the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo commending him for saving the country some scarce resources, he was given the boot.
The head of COJA, Dr. Amos Adamu was investigated but instead of making the report public and reprimanding all those found guilty in the alleged scandal, the report was swept under the carpet, hence the culprits are raising their heads claiming the government even commended them for a job well done.
Where do we stop. Some other smaller sporting events have been hosted, some through state governments but with the Federal Government also committing huge sums of money into it. The reports are never made open. From these events, several millionaires have been made, all at the expense of the country and her athletes who remain neglected all the time.
This year, Nigeria had a woeful performance at the Africa Nations Cup in Ghana and while the government turned blind eye to it even as the people complained, the National Assembly said it would investigate the poor performance of the Super Eagles. Nothing has been heard about it since then.
Of course some Nigerians never believed the law makers to come out with any result because they were part of the problem in the first place. What on earth were some of them in Ghana to do if not for earning estacodes.
For law makers who joined in sharing from the money approved for the country's participation at the continental fiesta, what would they have come out with, indict themselves, no way.
The government last year set up a committee to advise it on ways to restructure the sporting sector to make it viable and less dependent on government for funding, so that the usual excuse of poor funding or late release of money for athletes' preparation would be a thing of the past.
General Ishola Williams (rtd), an astute administrator headed the committee which had such men like Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima, Adokie Amiesimaka, Dan Negerem among others, as members. There report was presented to President Umar Musa Yar'Adua who mandated the chairman of the National Sports Committee (NSC), Barrister Abdulrahman Gimba to see to its implementation.
But what do we have today. A top official of the NSC who feels threatened that he might be thrown out of the system if the report is implemented, has gone around to lobby some lawmakers in the National Assembly to truncate the implementation of the report. They actually harassed the NSC chairman during the public hearing on the report he submitted.
When the country was about going to the Beijing Olympics, Barrister Gimba thought that the contingent should be scaled down and only sports with medal prospects should be allowed to represent the country. Nobody, including the lawmakers saw any sense in what he was saying.
Now the country had gone and the athletes performed woefully and the same lawmakers, some of who went to Beijing at government expense, have come out to indict Gimba as the reason for the poor performance.
First, may the lawmakers be informed that it takes at least four years to prepare athletes for the Olympics if they hope to win medals. And if they care to know too, Gimba was appointed just over a year ago by the present government, a time it was already too late to truly train athletes for an Olympic Games.
If this is a known fact, then I dare ask, how come the present Senate is indicting him for the country's poor performance at the Beijing Olympics.
If we agree that the present government didn't release money even for the belated training of the athletes, is not because of the delay in the approval of the budget for which the National Assembly was fighting the president over some money for them?
In this case the entire government which includes the lawmakers themselves, is liable for the neglect of the athletes and their poor performance in Beijing. Therefore to single out Gimba as the reason Nigeria failed to shine at the Olympics is unfair and fraudulent.
How many American lawmakers traveled to China for the Olympics at government expense? Senator Heineken Lopkobiri and his colleagues should stop chasing shadows and face the business of making laws that will improve the lives of Nigerians, athletes inclusive so that they could represent Nigeria creditably in future. They should stop conniving with some administrators because they grab some chunk of the money meant for athletes welfare, all in the name of being members of a bogus government delegation to sports events where there presence is absolutely unnecessary.
Why probe the N1.7 billion spent on the Beijing Olympics when some of their members enjoyed esctacodes from attending the same event. How many of them spent over N10 million like Senator Uche Chukwumerije on training one athlete for the Games? If Chukwumerije spent that much to sponsor his son, Chika to win a medal, how much is N1.7 billion for about 135 athletes and officials who participated at the Beijing Olympics? The money would definitely not have been able to take care of their training for four years and participation in China.
Again before the coming of Gimba, someone was in-charge of the sports ministry before it metamorphosed into the NSC. Does it mean there was no structure on ground to carry out the policies that could have seen the athletes triumph?
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