By Jacob Ajom

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Wednesday, announced portfolios for all the ministerial designates. According to the announcement Senator John Owan Enoh (JOE) is appointed to take charge of the Ministry of Sports. For the first time the ministry has been detached from youth development. Many have been wondering why a man without a background in sports was bestowed with the responsibility of superintending over the ministry. But this won’t be the first time we are witnessing this trend. Past ministers of sports like the last three: Sunday Dare, Solomon Dalung and Tammy Danagogo had no traceable backgrounds in sports, but they all ran their courses and contributed their quotas to national development.

Back to the issue at hand, the new minister, who will be sworn in on Monday, has a huge task ahead of him. First the minister must recognise that sports is key to the quest for national cohesion, youth empowerment and above all, sport brings a lot of honour and pride to Nigeria. Whenever our sportsmen and women achieve results, the entire nation is happy. Sports is the only sector where our – political, ethnic or religious – differences vanish or are swallowed by the euphoria that follows each good performance, particularly at the international stage.

But such performances can only be attained when certain things are put right in the sports sector.

Nigerian sports need a rebirth, a reinvention of sorts. Successive regimes have paid lip service to calls for a return to grassroots sports which is the catalyst for enduring sports development; where budding talents are discovered, nurtured and programmed to replace aging and tired legs.

But that is a Herculean task which the minister cannot achieve alone because he would need the collaborative efforts of his counterpart from the Ministry of Education to succeed. The best place to start grassroots sports is the schools. These days, most schools don’t have playgrounds. It is the ministry of Education that is in charge of approving the establishment of new schools. Only that ministry can insist on schools having enough land to accommodate sports facilities before approvals are given. Once there is a political will on the part of the government, grassroots sports development can be achieved. Deliberate steps must be taken to make it illegal to open schools without recreational facilities. Here the national assembly too must get involved.

The Minister of Sports should also pay a premium to training and retraining the technical hands that will in turn keep the supply chain of athletes alive. The institution responsible for the training and retraining of coaches, the National Institute for Sports(NIS) should be rejuvenated and repositioned to carry out its role effectively.

There have been numerous efforts in the past regarding ways and means of developing sports in the country. Many have suggested the return to the National Sports Commission, which was Nigeria’s apex body responsible for regulating sports in the country. The NSC was in charge of elite athletes with supervisory functions over the various sports federations. The NSC housed the best brains in every sport and offered the best option in strategic planning, execution and administration of sports in the country.

The myriad of problems facing sports in Nigeria include poor funding. The minister’s task should also include how to attract private sector participation in funding sports. This calls for transparency and accountability, good results and fair play. The minister can also dust the files of his immediate predecessor’s adopt-an-athlete/facility policy which yielded modest results in the last dispensation.

He should also engage knowledgeable former internationals, Olympians and even retired sports administrators whose vast experience will be of great benefit to the ministry.

Within the ministry, the Minister should be wary of sycophants whose pastime is gossip and idle talk. They are the most dangerous people whose stock-in-trade is to destroy others for personal gains.

The minister should ensure that sports federations follow their own statutes in all their undertakings.

Perhaps, special interest in certain sports like football, athletics and basketball will not be a bad idea as these are the areas that have witnessed so much volatility in recent years. That too has affected the fortunes of Nigeria in those sports in recent years. The minister’s interest should be focused on how to bring about lasting peace and tranquility to these federations that control sports that command mass appeal. At the end, it is the results that determine your level of success. It is not going to be easy. But it is achievable.