As the Nigerian contingent departed for the recently concluded Tokyo Olympic games, Nigerians cheered wildly even if it was more in hope than in expectation. Nigerians saw in the ancient Olympic games a healthy distraction from the troubles at home, a rare opportunity to rub shoulders and compete with those countries many young Nigerians undertake perilous and sometimes fatal journeys through the deserts to migrate to.
Many Nigerians gave their full support in spite of their long simmering suspicions about the integrity and competence of those who administer sports in Nigeria and their long held belief that Nigerian sports institutions are bedeviled by corruption.
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No sooner had the country touched down at the Olympic games that the scandals began. There was the controversy about the kits. There was the controversy over mobile phone gifts from Samsung. But the granddaddy of it all was the disqualification of the athletes and their embarrassing protests which painted the country black in faraway Asia.
It does not take a visionary to see that in a country where corruption blights everything, the administration of sports has not been left unblemished. But to go to the grand stage of the Olympics and air our dirty laundry is to soar into the stratosphere of shamelessness. Such was the smog cast over our Olympics participation by the scandals that when Ese Brume and Blessing Oborodudu jumped and wrestled their ways to medals in long jump and wrestling respectively, the country hardly took notice.
High ranking Nigerian athletes have cried out in the past that sports administration in the country was infiltrated by those for whom merit is negotiable and money invaluable.
The question is how can sports thrive and become a reference point in a country easily distracted by short term gains and fleeting illusions?
How can sports, which is the very antithesis of corruption in all its manifestations, thrive in a country where corruption is a culture and a cult for many?
As has been successfully implemented in other countries that are great sporting successes, the blueprint for transcendent sporting dominance is to prepare early and to prepare well. Preparing early means supporting children and young people who are clearly gifted to pursue their dreams and develop properly from the earliest stages. Preparing well means putting the right facilities in place and having the right coaches around. It means exposure to international competition.
Great sporting successes and dominance do not just happen overnight, neither are they short-term projects overseen by short-sightedness. They are long-term projects that demand equal amounts of focus and fortitude which can only be borne on the shoulders of champions. Consequently, the corrupt and the incompetent can have no contribution to make.
For the largest black country on earth, Nigeria is a perennial underachiever in sports. While there have been modest successes in football, grand sporting theatres like the Olympics show us up to be more of pretenders than contenders, well behind smaller countries that pay painstaking attention to their athletes and sporting image.
Our fortunes can yet change. To midwife this change, we must all recognise the immeasurable potential of sports to unite and untie the knots that bind the country. To force this change, all those whose hands have been soiled by the lure of filthy lucre must be allowed no further hold on the ploughs of sports administration in Nigeria.
Kenechukwu Obiezu [email protected]
