By Eddie Akalonu

National boxing coach Obisia Nwakpa, who recently retired from the service of the National Sports Commission and the Nigerian Boxing Federation, is a bit worried about his future.

“Unending strike by university lecturers is my problem now. I had looked forward to having a quiet time in retire-ment and I had so planned it to coincide with my last two children graduating this year from university such that I would be free from paying school fees. However, it looks like I have to live a bit more with this issue than I had hoped,” he stated.

Besides this issue, the former African and Commonwealth Super-lightweight champ-ion,who got a shot at the world title in 1981 against Saoul Mamby in Lagos but lost has since been looking for a new role to build on.

“Outside of this, I think I’m okay. I have had a fruitful and swell time any boxer or ex- athlete in Nigeria would have because besides my job as a coach, the Nigerian Army made me comf-ortable. I believe the struggle continues,” he said. Asked to point the  way forward for boxing, Obisia said, “there has to be massive investment in the sport, on equipment, on training for boxers, coaches and ring officials which are areas we have neglected. Boxers will need regular competitions at home and abroad and the National Sports Commission has to fund this. The boxing federa- tion too has a role to play by being in the forefront of re-engineering boxing,” he said.