OLUFEMI ATOYEBI writes on the various questions that the recent National Sports Festival held in Lagos has raised as Nigeria seeks solution to its decline in sports
The 18th edition of the National Sports Festival ended in Lagos last Sunday with Delta State emerging champions. But beyond the medal haul, the celebrations and the preparedness of the hosts Lagos to stage a successful tournament, the festival left more questions than answers to the slide in the nation's sport.
Nigeria's failure to address properly the challenges of raising young talents and nurturing them to stardom by the National Sports Commission came to the fore after Team Nigeria returned from the London 2012 Olympics with no medal despite over N1bn expended.
The festival however came at the appropriate time as it offered the NSC an avenue for a prompt response, with the Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi saying that Nigeria will begin preparation for the 2016 Rio Olympics early enough with the athletes that would be discovered in Eko 2012. But the hindrances that have always made the festival look like a mere gathering of idle athletes were still present and even after the festival, the barrier grew several feet higher.
Officiating
In the previous edition held in Port Harcourt in 2011, there were cases of technical officials clashing with athletes and coaches. While the NSC exonerated the officials of any fault, it accepted some degrees of responsibility by saying that such flaw and many others would be corrected before the next edition in Lagos.
There was the suggestion that the festival would be meaningful if the technical officials were given training to update their knowledge of the sport they handle. The rules in every game keep changing. In football, for example, determining the off-side and how far the ball should go beyond the line before a goal is accepted have given the referees a tough time.
While some of the problems are handled with technological solutions, others require human perfection that can be enhanced by on-the-job-training initiative. In Eko 2012, there were conflicts arising from poor officiating that reached a head when a basketball coach from the North claimed after a match at the Rowe Park that a referee was favouring the opponent from the West because he is also from the West.
An ugly situation also ensued during the games when a dambe athlete was seriously beaten by security men posted to keep peace at the venue. The athlete, Amao Usman, from Lagos, alleged that he was leading his opponent from Yobe State with enough points before the final round, wondering why the official gave victory against him. His protest drew the soldiers' anger as they pounced on him and added to his misery. Physically, he was in a bad shape after the beating. The soldiers also forced a cameraman from The Sun to delete all the pictures in his camera for daring to capture the torture.
Ogun State dambe coach Segun Gbayi was critical of officiating at the games. He said a fight involving his athlete was rigged by the official in favour of Akwa Ibom State, calling for action to be taken to preserve the festival's integrity.
Some state officials blamed the poor state of officiating at the games on the scramble by NSC technical officials to be at the festival for financial reason alone.
"There are more incompetent referees at the festival than genuine officials. Some of them have been dislocated from the new trend in sport but they have powerful people in the organisation so they keep coming at the expense of younger officials who know the modern trend," said a boxing coach who accused a referee of deliberately working against his boxer.
Invaders
As it was in the previous games, some states went the extra length to ensure victory by hiring athletes from neighbouring countries. A boxer once said his opponent, who was representing a South-South state, only understood French, fuelling the rumour that he must have been hired from one of the former French colonies.
If the allegation passed as a rumour, a confirmation soon came when a Cameroonian weightlifter John Baptis was caught representing Anambra State. His record as a champion in Cameroon gave him out after officials searched his name on an internet search engine after a tip-off. He was already amassing gold medals before he was caught.
President of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation Chimdi Ejiogu said he was sad that some states were destroying the set objectives of raising young talents at the festival.
"We have to deal with such practice early enough before it gets out of hand. We are killing local talents because of the desperation for medals," he said.
The Main Organising Committee secretary Aba Yola expressed the fear that the develolmental aim of the games is gradually being defeated.
The competition is for Nigerians and it is a developmental initiative. How can you bring an athlete from another country? They (the states in the practice) are not being fair to Nigeria," he said.
Low standard, breaking records
Officiating is not the only impediment to identifying and raising young talents. The performance of more than half of the athletes in individual and team events showed that many of the states didn't prepare well enough for the event. Boxing is an area that is affected by the inability of the states sports councils to raise athletes.
A former boxing champion and an Olympian, Obisia Nwankpa, expresses the fear that the future of boxing in Nigeria looks bleak. Nwankpa was an official during the games and he said he noticed that most of the boxers were mere fighters with no boxing skills.
"The standard is too poor. I was once a boxer at the top level and I am now a national coach. It takes discipline, diligence and hard work to rise from the amateur category, but I did not see any boxer with such combination. They fight like thugs in the bus termini and it's a shame that such boxers are paraded at the festival where the future is given shape.
"It means that at the grass roots level, we no longer do the right thing. We don't have good coaches who can help nurture boxers again and the quality of our competitions is too low. The system at the NSC is not friendly for development," he says.
There are new sprinters emerging in athletics, like Henry Okoye, who won gold in 400m hurdles. He is a veterinary medicine graduate who represented the Federal Capital Territory. Although the time he returned was not encouraging and no significant attempt was made to break existing records, Okoye is confident that he could succeed in the professional ranks.
"I had bronze in the last edition and now gold in Lagos. I am now thinking of hitting the international scene if I am given a chance. I can always improve on my lifting and timing and focus," he said.
In swimming, the athletes blamed their inability to break existing records on the opportunity given to elite athletes to compete in the Ogun 2006 edition of the festival.
"Breaking a record is a measure of improvement but you cannot expect a kid to break a record set by a professional swimmer. We are up-and-coming athletes so we did not come here to break the records because personally, I am aware of the fact that professional athletes who had represented Nigeria in the past broke the record," said Alima.
Throwing the festival open
Athletes who have submitted that the existing records have come to stay may not even make it to the medal zone in the next edition. The sports minister unveiled a plan during Eko 2012 to make the games an open affair from the 2014 edition in Calabar.
The plan, if actualised, will erase the existing structure and allow elite athletes to feature in the event. He said the festival would therefore become an avenue to see the best athletes in Nigeria, rather than a field for young athletes to show their skill. Athletes like Blessing Okagbare, Chika Chukwumerije, Bukola Abogunloko, Selim Nurudeen, Obinna Metu, Damola Osayomi and Segun Toriola, who are Olympians and medallists at various international events, will begin to compete at the festival. But will professional footballers be willing to travel home and represent their states?
It's a plan that has received criticisms, chief among them from Lagos State, which says it will not go to Calabar with established athletes.
Head of the Local Organising Committee for Eko 2012, who is also Lagos State Deputy Governor, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, said the state would continue to regard the festival as a breeding ground for young athletes.
She said, "We were not desperate to win Eko 2012 Sports Festival, but our objective was to identify talents, which we achieved. We are proud of our athletes that won medals for us at Eko 2012 and we will continue to keep them and give them international exposure and support as part of the preparation for the 2014 Sports Festival."
On the other hand, Abdullahi is already receiving support for his plan as some states and sports federations are helping him to drive home the proposed format.
Nigeria Swimming Federation president Babatunde Fatayi-Williams said the new arrangement would give opportunities to all Nigerian athletes to show their skills. "I think it's a good idea to throw the sports festival open to all athletes because it will give room for serious competition, which will also make talents to be discovered,'' Fatayi-Williams said, adding that the performance of local athletes would not be negatively affected.
The Delta solution
There is no doubt that the 2012 edition generated more questions and proposal for solutions, having been held at a critical period in Nigeria sports.
Executive Chairman of Delta State Sports Commission, Amaju Pinnick, wants the idea of putting the burden of hosting on a state to be eradicated. He prefers using Abuja as the games permanent home. Lagos spent around N5bn to host the event but Pinnick says the money would have been useful in providing social amenities that will benefit citizens. He also says moving it to Abuja will erase the host-to-win syndrome.
He said, "The facilities is Abuja are among the best in the world, but today they are not what anybody would want to visit because of the neglect.
"The essence of hosting the sports festival in various states is to encourage the states to develop their sporting facilities. If the NSF is moved to the FCT, the states can concentrate on hosting junior and intermediate championships which should be able to churn out raw talents from the grass roots.
"The burden of the NSF should be left to the Federal Government. Lagos State, for instance, spent about N5bn on the games, but this amount could be used to build more schools and hospitals if the Federal Government would take up the responsibility of the games.
"The impact of hosting the games by the state is huge. A time will come when the state will avoid hosting the sports festival because of the financial burden," he warns.
