By Ben Efe

Former Athletics Federation of Nigeria president, Dan Ngerem has picked holes in the appointment of two American coaches by the National Sports Commission.  This is just as he reviled that there were other alternatives open for exploitation by the Sports minister, Bolaji Abdullahi who gleefully announced the coming of Annie Taylor and Eric Campbell.

Ngerem said that the process that lead to the appointment of the coaches should have been made more open to all coaches most especially Nigerians who are capable of producing result with the right motivation. He argued that Taylor and Campbell could not be classified as world class coaches since they have not produced any recognizable athletics star.

“What is all this talk about hiring foreign coaches for AFN and also conducting the interview in London as reported? How many Nigerian coaches would have been able to attend with the airfare, accomm-odation and upkeep variables? Who conducted the interview and what is the pedigree of the consultant/consultants?

“How much was the consultant paid and how many NSC staff and/or AFN Board Members were in London for the exercises and who bankrolled the expenses

“Most nagging question of all – where was the exercise advertised and in which Nigerian medium…Or did they design the programme in such away that it is skewed against our hard working local coaches?

Is that the best and optimal use of scarce resources and finances?” Ngerem queried.

He submitted that there were a number of bilateral relationships that the NSC could have explored, but it appeared that these were ignored.

“We have bilateral relationships with Cuba and Germany.

“Portugal promised Nigeria technical and coaching assistance when we negotiated on behalf of Nigeria when they poached Francis Obikwelu who was abandoned by Nigeria the athlete suffered an injury in Sydney 2000. Spain also promised us technical and coaching assistance when they poached Gloria Alozie with borderline illegality (when Spain flouted IAAF rules on change of nationa-lity) we then applied to have her European Champion-ship medals withdrawn and to compens-ate Nigeria they offered technical and coaching support

“Also Nigeria Institute of Sports and Australia Institute of Sports bilateral agreement where MTN then CEO Adrian Wood put down $600,000.00 (Six hundred thousand dollars during our trip with President Obasanjo to Australia and in full glare of the world media).

“Nigeria has IOC/Olympic Afrique and IAAF/AAC training budding training centres – have they applied to these international bodies for assistance and they refused….?  All these are documented and it is in the Ministry of Sports/NSC

“Why have we embarked on this expensive and tortuous experiment especially at a time when the so called ‘king of sports’ in Nigeria (football) is doing very well with local bred talent,” added the former AFN boss.

He stated that Germany and Cuba had agreed to pay for the coaches that may have been on the programme.

“This was on the condition that Nigeria will provide their accommodation and transport. As AFN president then, I had offered to defray these costs and the offer still stands.

“We are fast becoming a one athlete country with Delta State graciously bank rolling all most everything and dictating to all and sundry apace

“We are grateful to Delta State however, one wonders if the Delta State impasse is a replacement for properly articulated sports policy framework to develop athletics in the country – what happens if the present sports loving Governor Leaves in a few short years….?