"The era of losing our best sporting talents to foreign countries is over. Aggressive grassroots talent hunting will be put in place and those talents will be nurtured and supported to achieve their dreams and indeed to win laurels for the country without being poached by the opportunistic western world".
National Sports Commission Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko, put down this marker while hosting 14 year-old serial-winning gymnast, Stephanie Ogechukwu Onusiriuka, and her mother.
Onusiriuka has been labelled Nigeria's Simone Biles drawing marked global acclaim and the Commission has moved to tie down her future to the country. She trains at the Leeds Gymnastics and is a member of the UK Gymnastics Club.
Having just finished her Senior Secondary Certificate Education (SSCE) examinations, her parents have been fielding calls from her UK club enquiring when she will be back. To this, Dikko jokingly asked her mother, "Why are they so keen on her returning? What is their problem? Do they want to poach her? This one is our own and we will do everything to keep her. We will invest in her so that we can authoritatively lay claim to her," observed the NSC boss.
To this end, Dikko revealed that the Commission will accord her an elite status.
"She will be part of our elite plans and preparations. Let's see what you have, then we will put heads together and do a new plan. Even if she is going abroad, she will be there on our own support and sponsorship. We will foot her bills. By 2026, she will be 16, so she will feature in the Commonwealth Games. In 2028, she can be a major medal prospect at the Olympics.
"Whatever we do for the likes of Ese Brume, we will do for her. We will also get someone to adopt her in line with our Adopt-an-athlete programme so the private sector will compliment whatever we do as government. From our perspective, from now, she is part of our elite group.
"Gymnastics is such a sport that is done at a very early age. Funny enough, you will say she is only 14, but this is the beginning of the peak years of gymnastics. These next four, five years are the years she is at her peak to get us on the podium. Biles is 27, but she is in the exit lounge. She won her first Olympics gold medal at 19. That is about the same age that we are targeting Stephanie in 2028. She will be 18 then, she should get us on the Olympics podium."
For Dikko, it will not be all talk, no action.
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"We will get a desk officer for her and others to monitor her progress . We are going to follow this through all the way right from here, this very moment. Get us your details, let us find her something for Christmas,", he told her elated mother.
Onusiriuka, the golden girl of Nigerian gymnastics, won 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze at the National Sports Festival, Edo 2021 aged just 11. With 4 gold medals, she emerged the best gymnast at the National Youth Games, Delta 2023.
She also has two gold medals from the African Club Championships in South Africa in 2019 and 2022.
