By Daily Sports on February 22, 2016

Let me say that when Abia State was created 24 years ago, the citizens regarded its coming on board as the beginning of a new era, a huge relief and the dawn of a dream land. The state inherited the once famous and landmark monument called Nsulu Games Village in Isiala Ngwa from the old Imo State.

A brief recap: This multi-purpose Games Village was created under the watch of the legendary astute sports administrator, the late Chief Jerry Enyeazu. This product of one of the premier secondary institutions in the country, Government College Umuahia, Abia State, made his mark at the national level as a passionate administrator of high repute.

He piloted the Nsulu Games Village came into being and it was a beauty to behold in all ramifications. Sports facilities and hostels were built. It was envisaged by the visioners to serve as the bedrock to promote sports in the old Imo State, and it soon became a Mecca of sorts, a talk of the town around the country.

Let me posit here that there were just two of such in the country then: Nsulu Games Village and the one at Afuze, in the defunct Bendel State (it is now located in Edo State) pioneered by then suave Military Governor of the state, Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia. Incidentally, it is the sports structures of that administration that Edo State can boast of till today – Ogbe Stadium (now renamed Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium being another famous legacy of that era. I digress.

In short, there was great enthusiasm when Abia was carved out of the old Imo State. The collective dream was that great state that would meet the yearning aspirations of all and sundry. As things turned out, the Military Administrators that piloted the initial affairs of the state with their limited knowledge of management of human, material and financial resources started on the wrong footing.

However, there came a glimmer of hope when very urbane academic, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu (presently Nigeria’s Minister of Science and Technology) was elected the first Executive Governor of Abia State. To be honest with you, he brought excellence, vitality, intelligence, focus and acumen to bear on the administration of the then young state. Unfortunately, the regime was short lived – brutally terminated along with the Third Republic by the late General Sani Abacha.

From thence on, successive governments in Abia State sadly paid no attention at all to the decaying infrastructures in the once pulsating Nsulu Games Village. Shamefully, instead of giving the Village the begging attention it deserves, it was left to its fate and consequently, it has become a shadow of its self till the time of writing this report. How are the mighty fallen!

Honestly, a visit to the once reference point of a Games village, you would freely weep and call for the instant trial of former chief executives of the-24-year-old state for crimes against the youths of the state and its environs who would have been making use of the facilities there to sharpen their skills in sports of their choice via training.

This writer was amazed recently after touring for three days the gigantic once excellent Nsulu Games Village. Two headlines readily came into my mind, ‘The Shame of Abia State’, and the one that was finally settled for.

It was discovered that most parts of the aging walls of the vast facility have caved in. This gave the villagers the impetus to encroach into the land, doing their farming activities freely. Indepth investigations revealed that the government has been aloof, doing absolutely nothing to reclaim the supposedly government land.

There and then, ‘The Sea Eats Our Land’, a poem in Selection of African Poetry by Sianu and Vincent, came into my mind. Again, I asked nobody in particular what Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has done since he assumed office on May 29, 2015. Methinks that one of his first ports of call would have been the Nsulu Games Village that has the potential to adequately reduce the number of delinquents in the state. That no attention whatsoever has been paid to Nsulu Games Village goes to show how hard or otherwise his aides in sports and youths development ministries are working.

Surprisingly, like his predecessors, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has given blind eyes and deaf ears to this all-important abandoned facility that would conveniently absorb the teeming Abia State sportsmen and women and others that would be gainfully employed to ease off the intensive pressure of daily increasing youths’ unemployment palaver and kidnapping of innocent citizens and visitors alike.

Governor Ikpeazu must brace up gamely and pull this bull by the horn. The long abandoned Games Village in Nsulu should be revived to generate revenue for the state by redesigning it into a modern day sports village. The land being grabbed by some villagers must be reclaimed without any further delay by the Ikpeazu-led government in the state; no more, no less.

The citizenry of the state are waiting for action to be taken forthwith within the confines of democracy. Meanwhile, we wait!!

•Enyinnaya can be reached via 08055068145 (sms only) or by e-mail via sportzvictor@yahoo.com.au

Source Daily Sports

Posted February 22, 2016

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