Today sixty three years ago, Britain’s Union Jack flag was lowered in Lagos, then capital city of the most populous black nation on planet earth, for the Green and White flag, signalling the dawn of a new era.

The country gained Independence, allowing the natives to rule over their affairs for the first time since after it was amalgamated by the colonialists in 1914.

Over the years, the Independence has turned out a flag Independence as the country is still dependent on foreign countries for its development despite having home-grown professionals in most of the sectors.

For the purpose of this Column, I will limit myself to sports, which many have described as the only sector of our national life that not only gives the citizens cause to smile sometimes but unites us as a people despite the diversity in tongues and tribes.

I recall how Nigerian athletes gave their American counterparts stiff competition in athletics, especially in the sprints. That was when we always had one or two of our athletes in the final of the 100m or 200m races as well as showing strong presence in the 400m and relay events.

Back then, Jamaica, the small Caribbean country of a population of less than three million people, just about double the population of Bayelsa state, the least populated in Nigeria, was not reckoned with in athletics.

But while Jamaica has made giant strides in the same sport that Nigerian athletes dominated in Africa and challenged the United States, Nigeria has been on steady decline, even losing her supremacy on the African continent.

In football, Nigeria didn’t win the African Nations Cup until in 1980, 23 years after the inaugural edition in Sudan. Till date, the country has only won it thrice while Egypt and Cameroon have won it seven and five times respectively.

At the U-17 level, the country, apart from winning the maiden edition of the FIFA World Cup in 1985, has won it five times, more than any other country in the world. Yet this has not translated to victories at the U-20 or senior levels.

The Flying Eagles have reached the final only twice while the best the Super Eagles have attained is the second round when countries like Cameroon, Ghana and Senegal have all reached the quarter-finals.

Morocco upped the ante at the last World Cup in Qatar, becoming the first African country to make it to the semi-finals. We have made some impacts in basketball, wrestling, table tennis, boxing and weightlifting both on the African continent and the world but going by the human resources we have, we have not really attained our full potential.

Is it not ironic that some athletes we either ‘rejected’ or frustrated have gone out to astound the world in their various sports?

Talk of Daniel Igali who had to become a Canadian to rule the wrestling world at the Olympics, World Championship and even the Commonwealth Games.

Or Akeem Olajuwon who became the ‘Dream’ of professional Basketball in the NBA. Then we also have Anthony Joshua who left Nigeria frustrated after he was rejected by the boxing authorities but turned pro and finally became a boxing world champion at a time.

Even Chioma Ajunwa who became the country’s first individual Olympic Games gold medalist was not
prepared by Nigeria. She was ‘abandoned’ after she
had issues of doping violation but got the desired fillip
to excel from Dr. Segun Odegbami who rallied support
for her from some corporate bodies to prepare for the
1996 Atlanta Olympics where she eventually etched
her name on the sands of time.
No conscious effort is ever made to develop the sports
sector or the athletes like Jamaica does through a
dedicated grassroot development through school
sports. Our athletes that rubbed shoulders with their
American counterparts were able to do so through their
school
system which offered them scholarships.
Our brightest athlete presently, Tobi Amusan, who
holds the 100m women’s world record was able to
achieve the feat because of the support of the American
school system.
The time has come when the government should
create the enabling environment for sports to thrive
rather than insist on running sports as is the practice
now.
The government has shown over the years that it is
not good in business, irrespective of the sector. It
should allow dedicated and passionate individuals
run sports as business and not use it to compensate
politicians.
By so doing, only people who are committed to the
development of sports would be given the opportunity
to showcase their administrative acumen. It will help
change our focus from participations in competitions
while paying lip service to serious sports development
through the discovery of talents and nurturing them
to stardom.