Tony Nezianya
6 July 2009
Lagos — The eyes of the sporting world will be focused on Nigeria between today July 6 and tomorrow. This is because when all 53 member-nations of the African Olympic family will converge in Abuja, for the quadrennial General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA).
Dr Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), will grace the occasion. It will be Rogge's second visit to Nigeria, since becoming president of IOC in 2001.
Rogge met with Nigeria's former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Vice, Atiku Abubakar, on his first visit in 2003. He is scheduled to meet President Umaru Yar'Adua, during the ANOCA assembly.
The IOC president always stresses the need to meet with nations' leaders as key to promoting harmony between sports leadership and the political authority. This is in that, in Africa, just as in most of the Third World, governments are instrumental to the sustenance of sports.
Rogge will also lay the foundation stone of a permanent ANOCA Secretariat during his visit.
Nigeria is playing a vital role in the Olympic Movement in Africa, particularly since the ANOCA secretariat, which operated from Yaoundé, The Cameroons, until 2006, has been moved to Abuja. Though ANOCA still operates from The Cameroons, the building of its permanent secretariat will hasten its relocation to Abuja. As usual, the visit of the IOC helmsman will provide the world sports' governing body the opportunity to assess the sporting requirements of Nigeria and the best way to assist in their growth.
Rogge will also use the opportunity of his visit to further strengthen ties with Nigeria's NOC and indeed, the Federal Government.
Hosting of the General Assembly at this time will help promote the rising profile of Nigeria. It will also help to engender confidence in the ability of the country to host big events, including the FIFA U-17 World Cup slated for Nigeria in October, as well as events like the Commonwealth Games, which Nigeria has made moves to host in the past.
It is expected that Nigeria will bid again for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
The ANOCA Assembly is also coinciding with a period that the sporting movement in Africa is at cross roads.
The Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA), the body that has been in charge of sports in the continent, has been fraught with problems, particularly with raising funds to sustain the All Africa Games.
This is against the backdrop that Zambia, which ought to host the 2010 All Africa Games, has opted out because it cannot finance the event.
More critical is the fact that ANOCA is being tipped to take over the management of Africa's multi-sports -- the All Africa Games -- from SCSA. The question being raised has been: Is ANOCA well equipped for this role?
SCSA has lost relevance; apparently because the institution has been usurped by governments across the continent. It has been dogged by deep financial crises. It also lacks the capacity to secure funding from the IOC.
On its part, the IOC appears unwilling to support any body that is wholly managed by Government.
Ironically, it is only in Africa that IOC has had problems supporting, because it is the only continent that still has two supreme bodies controlling sports.
The America has Pan American Sports Organization (PASO); Asia has the Olympic Council of Asia; and Europe, the European Olympic Committee. Africa sports is supposed to be controlled by ANOCA
Tommy Sithole , a Zimbabwe, is a former Secretary-General and currently, Director, Africa's Development at the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Sithole says: "For Africa to get the required attention from IOC in terms of reasonable financial support for growth of sports, it will have to have only one body that is non-governmental."
Banji Oladapo, Secretary-General of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), says bidding cities for the 2016 Olympics will use the ANOCA congress to present their profiles to officials of Africa's Olympic movement.
Delegates are expected to vote for the host city on October 2 in Copenhagen, Denmark during the IOC Congress.
Tokyo, Madrid, Chicago and Rio De Janeiro are bidding to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Each city is to be given 15 minutes to make presentation at the Abuja assembly.
On the other hand, the IOC has confirmed that the seven sports seeking to either rejoin the Olympic programme, and those with fresh applications, will also be in attendance in Abuja. They will use the assembly to present their vision, as well as convince their African colleagues of the need to have these sports on the Olympic Programme.
They include baseball, golf, karate, roller sports, rugby and softball. They are all vying for the two programme slots at the 2016 Games.
However, the high point of the ANOCA assembly will be an election to usher in a new executive committee to run its affairs over the next four years.
Lassana Palenfo, the outgoing ANOCA President, is running for re-election.
The outgoing executive made some modest achievements that could stand them in good stead for another mandate.
It pioneered the staging of U-18 ANOCA zonal Games, which were staged at all the zones of the continent.
However, an internal feud plagued it for much of its tenure. Its secretary-general, Angolan, Gustavo Dias Vaz Da Conceicao, opted out of the association because he could not get along with Palenfo.
He accused the ANOCA president of being overbearing in certain matters.
If the Palenfo-led executive is to make an impact in the election, its members will have to show that they can overcome personal differences. In the absence of SCSA, the onus of leading a unified African sports body will be thrust on the shoulders of ANOCA. It will be the expectation of the IOC President that a credible leadership emerges at the end of the event, just like it happened in Accra, Ghana, in 2005.
President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Habu Ahmed Gumel, is a member of the outgoing ANOCA executive.
"Nigeria Olympic Committee is proud to play host to the 13th ANOCA General Assembly, the first of such assemblies to be held in Abuja, the new Headquarters of ANOCA," Gumel says.
It promises to be three days of intense lobbying, horse-trading and even intrigues.
Whatever be the case, a new ANOCA leadership will have to emerge to ensure that the continents giant strides in sports are not further compromised.
(NAN Features)
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