By Victor Enyinnaya on March 2, 2017

Former Executive Committee member and Director of Finance, Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Prince Isidore Oduah, has called on the Youth and Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung to summon a meeting of ex-internationals aimed at forging a lasting and sustainable way forward for athletics in the country.

He made the call from his country home Otuche, Ogbaru Anambra State, adding that such a step towards rediscovering where we got it wrong in athletics which used to be one of our strongest in track and field event in any international meet.

Oduah further stressed that such laudable idea became necessary now that the tenure of the Solomon Ogba led Exco has expired.

“There’s every need for fresh beginning because athletics has witnessed real lull and outright downward trend in the past eight years and so visible that one cannot readily pin-point vividly what direction the sport is right now. Dalung if he is out to salvage sports generally must listen to this clarion call and bring these ex-internationals on board to contribute meaningfully to the path of recovery and total healing. Since the golden retirement of Mercy Onyali-Omagbemi, Falilat Ogunkoya, Charity Opara-Thompson, Chioma Ajunwa-Opara, Ezinwa brothers, Chidi Imo, Yusuf Alli, Olapede Adenekan, Fatima Yusuf, Gloria Anozie,  Francis Obiekwelu, among numerous others,”

According to him, these people must not be ignored if the sorry state of athletics in the country truly touches the authorities. “This is an hour of revival. It came about when the wasted tenure of the present dispensation is over. This is the time to start anew. Ogba and his Exco have tried their best. It is time to take the back seat and allow fresh, innovative and people with interest and passion for athletics to take the centre stage so as to bring life, strength and vigour back into the steady dying sport.”  

The former member of Anambra State Sports Council explains that if these former resourceful athletes are listened to and their contributes implemented, athletics in the country would breathe a new lease of life and the nation back to her former frontline position it dominated in the continent, showed great potentials in the Commonwealth, IAAF Championships and the Olympics.

“My take is that these former athletes knew how they were discovered and groomed, the Minister has to hold close door section with them and empower them to do likewise that brought them to limelight. For instance, Onyali-Omagbemi was discovered from the school, was closely trained like her likes in the category of women and men, it was why she and others reached the peak of their careers and brought honour to the country.

“After holding sway in the tracks then, Nigeria has not had it so good till this moment. It went to the worst of times that even in All Africa Games; unease calm became the order of the day in our camp. Smaller countries that never saw our back were set to overrun us. That is how bad it became, our athletics medal hopes were built around Blessing Okagbare who was equally mismanaged by AFN. The lone ranger oftentimes fell below expectations due largely to unbearable pressure,” he regrets.   

The all-round administrator, urged the Minister not to be deceived by lobbyists’ and their Godfathers already at work for positions in AFN. “We know their antecedents of blowing hot and cold at the same time, at the end of the day, they left the sport worse than they met it. The ex-internationals that have shown passion, interest, focus, loaded agenda and determination to re-invent athletics should be given the chance and must be armed with funding and sundry to discover and groom younger athletes that would turn in laurels for their motherland.

It’s where the world is turning to now discovering, grooming them and imbibing sound training, spiced with discipline. We saw what over dependence on elite (foreign athletes of Nigeria extraction) caused the nation in the eight years of Ogba led Exco. Needless to remind us of the no medals show that characterised it. Now that our fingers were badly burnt in the fruitless exercise, the Minister must not listen to side talks (gossips) that would lead the nation’s athletics and other sports nowhere,” he insists.

•Photo shows Prince Isidore Oduah. 

Source Daily Sports

Posted March 2, 2017

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