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Super Eagles, Enyimba excite Nigerians in 366
days
Uzor Odigbo
Correspondent
Talking about how sports fared in the year under
review would make one think of running
away from the country devoid of genocide threat.
However, the Super Eagles through the third place
position at the 2004 Nations Cup soccer tournament in Tunisia generated hope in
the minds of Nigerians. Because the soccer fiesta took place early in the year,
people felt that the nation’s sports officials would follow the good
trend laid out by Eagles fair outing in Tunisia.
Alas! it became the end of success story in sports in
the country in the year under review.
January 2004 began with optimism that stemmed from
the country’s All Africa Games exploits the year after. Sports men and
women wore the toga of ‘lets do it again’ in view that the
preparations that trailed the continental games success would be replicated.
On the other hand, the sports ministry through
“Team Nigeria” kept assuring and re-assuring those concerned that
the Olympic preparations would commence in earnest.
Athletes waited for three months nothing was heard
from sports ministry on the earlier announced Olympic preparations.
The ministry again changed tactics. But this time
around, the non-release of funds became the slogan, which was sold and bought
by both athletes and the press.
This gimmick lasted for two months until there was
nothing to base further lies. At this point, Nigerians were ignorant that the
federal govt. has released funds for the ministry to commence preparations for
the Olympic games in March, it was not until May, 30, 2004 that hints of
possible training tour for athletes was announced. Not all sports benefited as
sizable number of associations were denied training tour; one of them was the
Special Sports Federation of Nigeria (SSFN)
Before now, none of the 29 sports federations had
organized any form of sports activities with the assistance of the sports
ministry. Those that braved to arrange one, got money either from their
respective association presidents or companies that used to sponsor their
events in the past and they are not many.
This year, sports associations that organized
competitions were few, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Special
Sports Federation of Nigeria (SSFN) Swimming federation, Basketball federation,
Tennis federation, Squash federation, Chess federation were the few that
organized competition to an extent. Some of them organized two or three events
while others went beyond four events. Sadly, these events were organized
without a kobo from the sports ministry on whose shoulder lays the
responsibility of adequately funding competitions at the federation level.
It is striking that in 366 days, the sports ministry
wasted whooping sum of N1.6 billion prosecuting the Olympic games that at the
end, fetched poor result.
Another area the country failed to excel in sports
was in the facility development. Around the country, it is a common sight
seeing sports infrastructures in ruins, suffering from long years of decay and
neglect. Even in the sports ministry where a department was caved out for that
purpose nothing seems to happen. The national stadium indoor sports hall have
been locked close to one year now, all effort to ascertain reasons for the
waste of that facility yielded no result.
The swimming pool at the national stadium still lay desolate with toads
and reptiles making the national monument their natural inhabitation.
If any visitor goes into the National Stadium,
Surulere today, he would weep for Nigerian sports. The once admired national
edifice has become a spot for all kinds of people to desecrate in the name of
sports men and women. The tartan track inside the main-bowl shows that there is
nothing sports development in Nigeria. Watching the country’s elite
athletes train on a dilapidated tracks exhumes pity. At the same time, these
athletes would be expected by the sports ministry to win gold medals at the
Beijing 2008 Olympics.
Talking about how Nigerian Sports failed in 2004,
lets take another look at individuals who tried their best either as athletes
or sponsors in the year under review.
Some state governors with their great passion for
sports helped push the game further in their individual ways, for instance,
governors such as Dr. Peter Odili, James Ibori, Orji-Uzor Kalu, Luck Igbinedion
have shown that no matter ones level in life, sports could be as a veritable
tool to carry the people along.
Besides affecting individual lives of sports men and
women, these sports loving personalities have also used sports to keep restive
youths busy all the time.
Some companies in Nigeria have also helped sports in
the country in the year under-review.
Nigeria’s 2004 Athens Olympic outing was the last
straw that broke the camel’s back. The ugly euphoria that it generated
speedily wiped off the nation’s All Africa Games success story. It was as
if some one placed a cures that Nigeria would not excel at the Olympics as all
sports federations that attended the games failed to make appreciable impact.
As if that was not enough, Nigerian football clubs Julius Berger and Ranger FC
of Enugu in the continental soccer competitions were sent out one after the
other leaving only Enyimba of Aba to contend for the Africa’s Champions
League. The outcome of Enyimba
versus Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia final encounter would go a long way in
determining how the year 2004 sports season would sign off.
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