The Bible tells us in Psalm 128 verse 1 that “Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways. You will eat the fruit of your labour”. Again it says in Proverbs 22 verse 21 that wisdom will make you know what is right and true, that you may give a true answer to those who sent you.

Dr. Mumini Alao, a renowned sports journalist was appointed the head of the Investigative Committee to look into the shame that was Team Nigeria’s participation at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. He and his committee members, by the thoroughness of their job which they did with the fear of God, will surely reap the fruit of their labour as the Bible says.

They also chose to apply the wisdom of Solomon by telling truth to authority who sent them. Maybe if the Sports Development Ministry wasn’t dissolved and the minister, Senator John Enoh redeployed, the recommendation of the committee may not have seen the light of day. It could have been swept under the carpet like many others before it. Unfortunately the media latched only on   the Favour Ofili aspect of the report because it raised a lot of furore during and after the Olympics.

To me the main flesh of the report was the indirect indictment of the two bodies saddled with the organisation of sports in Nigeria, the Sports Ministry and the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC. Officials of both bodies have always worked at cross purposes over the years mainly for pecuniary gains at the expense of Nigerian athletes who look like sheep without a shepherd.

If they are not bungling the registration of athletes, they are bungling the out of competition tests for athletes as required by WADA, the anti doping agency or they are ‘fighting’ over whose right it is to provide kits for the athletes at competitions. Paragraph 8 of the report is an indictment on both the former sports minister and the NOC President, Engr. Habu Gumel and the government must do something about it to avoid such in future.

The paragraph says that “The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) should be more transparent in its relationship with the Ministry of Sports Development. Had the NOC been more open, its legally-binding kitting contract with an American sportswear manufacturer, Actively Black Company, would not have suffered any risk of breach and caused any controversy or embarrassment to Nigeria at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

The Ministry and the NOC should eschew mutual suspicion and promote TRASPERANCY and MUTUAL TRUST (capital theirs) in their interactions for the benefit of Nigerian sports and the athletes.

This mutual suspicion has been on over the years and has always caused Nigeria embarrassment during Games. I can vividly recall in 2014 at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow when funds meant for athletes kits were allegedly diverted and old stock had to be procured from the ministry’s store. This saw athletes wearing jerseys that had them covering old numbers with new ones or writing same with plaster to the glare of the whole world. 

Or is it the case of athletes washing their jerseys after every event at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo because enough wasn’t provided by the sports ministry or the NOC? At both Games I just mentioned, the sports ministry swept the scandal under the carpet and nothing was heard or said about it after they returned. Therefore Senator Enoh should be commended for setting up the committee to investigate the shame of Paris 2024 at least, even though the outcome may have been swept under the carpet as usual were he still at the helm of sports today.

Another good job done by Dr. Alao and his members was the caution on Nigeria’s first Olympic cyclist, Ese  Ukpeseraye who embarrassed not only the Cycling Federation and the entire Nigerian contingent at the Games “on account of her unauthorized post that she made on social media X(formerly Twitter) about the bicycle she used for the cycling track event at the Olympics”. She is to write an apology letter to the cycling federation.

The truth is that even the event she qualified for, the sports ministry didn’t make provision for her bicycle nor kits but it took the effort of the Cycling Federation president, Engr. Giadomenico Massari, who was instrumental in her qualification in the first place, to arrange for her European club to provide her with a bicycle for  the  road race. It was through the CFN president’s effort that she got a bicycle for the track event after she was convinced to participate in it. It was when she was advised to commend the club for helping her with a bicycle that she tweeted on her X handle that  she borrowed it.

Her tweet was later twisted by news hungry bloggers to say she was abandoned. The Alao committee, having found out the role Engr. Massari played in Ukpeseraye’s debut Olympics appearance and all he was doing for Nigerian cycling, recommended that he should be honoured by the sports ministry. The committee stated what most Nigerians already know as one of the banes of sports development in the country as well as hindrance to podium performances.

That is inadequate funding as well as its untimely release. As a solution to therefore, it advised the ministry to “adopt a more private-sector-led concept proposed by the Investigative Committee to close the huge funding gap in Nigerian sports”. With the sports ministry already scrapped and replaced with a more proactive National Sports Commission, NSC, Nigerians are hoping that these recommendations by the Alao committee will be looked into and implemented with some modifications. However, with the NSC  presently constituted without a governing  board and its head, Alhaji Shehu Dikko appearing like a Sole Administrator, one wonders if the dream of setting Nigeria’s sports on the right part for good results could be achieved.