By Maduabuchi Kalu on September 16, 2016

Former Director General of the defunct National Spots Commission (NSC), Dr. Amos Adamu, has thrown his weight behind the Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Hon. Solomon Dalung to clean up the rot in the sports sector in Nigeria following the declaration of State of Emergency on Sports by the Hon. Sports Minister.

Adamu gave his support while fielding questions on a live television sports programme on Television Continental tagged ‘Sports Round Up’. The former executive member of CAF and FIFA said it was high time sanity was brought into the industry in order to restore the past glory of sports in Nigeria.

“I want to start by saying that I support the Hon. Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Hon. Solomon Dalung in his recent declaration of State of Emergency on Nigerian Sports following the dwindling fortunes of the industry in the county,” Adamu stated.

“I am delighted that Dalung made the declaration because it means that he has discovered that there is a problem or there are problems in the first place that are hindering the development and growth of sports in the country, and that is the first step.

“Having declared State of Emergency on the sports industry, it then means that Dalung has studied the problems and has made up his mind to confront the challenges hindering the progress of the industry. It also means that he has the capacity to ensure that whatever is the challenge making sports to be retarded at the moment in the country will be dealt with, with a view to reversing the trend for good.

Continuing, Dr. Adamu used the opportunity to call on the government to ensure that funds are made available to the various sports federations to enable them have their activities up and running. He said it would be a pipe dream to declare a State of Emergency on the sports sector if there was no money to fund the activities of the various sports federations.

“Having said that it is not enough to declare State of Emergency on sports, government must inject the necessary funds into sports if the declaration must make any meaning. The industry needs to be sanitised no matter what it takes so that the past glory of the industry will be restored.

“Sports is a capital intensive venture. To train athletes and officials including coaches involves money. The provision of sports facilities and equipment does not come cheap. Those who are making it spend money and that is why they are getting the positive result today.

“There is nothing the sports federations can do when they don’t have the funds to execute their programmes no matter how lofty they are. It does not matter how laudable their programmes may be if there is no funds to execute them, the federations wouldn’t execute them. It is as simple as that. So, the government needs to make adequate funds available to enable the various sports federations carry out their programmes if we must revive our sports.

“If there is no money, where will the Hon. Minister bring money to send the athletes for training either locally or internationally? Where will he get the money to ask the athletes to move to camp when he knows that he has no money to take care of these programmes? That is why funds are very important in sports development and growth.

“It is not by accident that Team Nigeria to the just concluded Rio Olympics did not perform to expectations of some people. But the question is do we deserve to win medals when we did little or nothing to enable us expect medals at the Games? There were little or no preparations for the Games. The Olympic Games is a quadrennial sports fiesta where the best in the world compete and you need to prepare seriously for four years for you to expect any colour of medal or do well,” Dr. Adamu explained.

Speaking on the alleged shortchanging of athletes by officials; the former Director General of NSC said: “I don’t think that we have problem in that direction because we have the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independence Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), the Courts and other agencies that have the responsibility to look into these allegations and investigate them to ascertain the truth or otherwise of these allegations.

“Don’t forget that in this part of the world, people make grievous allegations without any fact to back up their allegations. Don’t also forget that when I was there as the DG of the NSC, people also made all manner of allegations of corruption against me. But one question that I used to ask them which nobody has been able to provide answer to is “If I am corrupt as alleged, why am I walking freely on the streets of this country like every other Nigerian?

“We should realise that athletes are like students, you can’t shortchange them the way it is being alleged and they give you a breathing space. But that does not mean that there are no problems that need to be investigated. I believe we should hold the agencies responsible for such things. They should discharge their responsibilities accordingly by investigating the allegations,” Adamu advised.

•Photo shows Dr. Amos Adamu.

Source Daily Sports

Posted September 16, 2016

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