I want to glorify the name of God for making me see 2025. Not all those that started 2024 with us are alive to see this first Sunday of 2025. That you are alive reading this, is enough to be thankful to Him.

I thank God for the wisdom to always think out a topic every week and put it down here. It is however, left for those who are saddled with the duty of managing our sports to use it for the benefit of the sector that gives us the succour to absorb the economic hardship in the land.

We are already five days into 2025 but unlike in the past, I doubt if any programme of activities for the sports sector has been outlined by the new helmsmen of the National Sports Commission, NSC, Alhaji Shehu Dikko and Chief Bukola Olopade.

By now, every federation is supposed to have their pro- grammes for the year spelt out and submitted to the NSC.

It is instructive to know that both Dikko and Olopade are men who have been touted to be great sports marketers over the years, so the days when administrators cry of poor funding, or lack of it, to develop facilities as well as the athletes, should be over.

Both men already know the mantra that government can- not do it all alone and therefore must source funds from the private sector to augment whatever the government is able to provide.

Therefore, the NSC must avoid situations of the past when men of means and capacity fuelled by passion for sports are overlooked in constituting boards of federations for friends and political hangers-on.

As elections into sports federations are around the corner, the NSC must ensure that encumbrances put in the way of candidates willing to throw their hats in the ring are removed.

With the right people in the federations, the NSC will have less to do and concentrate on providing enabling environment for them to operate. Provision of facilities should be a priority for Dikko and Olopade.

Since provision of facilities is not limited to the federal government. States as well as local governments should also support in this area so that talents discovered around the country will not lack training facilities.

I remember that in 2003, the sports ministry got some ex- perts to study the Cuban model and see how it could be implemented here to not only help discover talents but also boost their chances in competitions.

One of those who did the job incidentally was a past Di- rector General of the National Sports Commission, Dr. Al-hassan Yakmut. He should be approached to brief the new helmsmen about it.

In Cuba, facilities abound for trainings and competitions.

Athletes are categorized into three cadres, junior, inter- mediate and senior/elite. And they compete all through the year with only three months break in a year. That is for full-time athletes. Same thing can be replicated here.

Another area which we treat with levity is participation of potential medal winners in both continental and world championships. Funds must be provided for this purpose so that athletes can test their strength against opponents they could meet at the Commonwealth and Olympic Games. If athletes compete regularly and rank among the top five in their various sports, chances are that at the Olympics, they will be in a good stead to be on the podium for medals.

School sports should be reintroduced and funded properly. That has been the strength of the United States. Jamaica has copied it and it is helping them a great deal.

I see no reason why we shouldn’t have competitions at primary, secondary and tertiary institutions levels. In the past, lots of talents were discovered at these competitions and groomed into national stars.

We also have the Samuel Ogbemudia model that worked for the old Midwest/Bendel which discovered great athletes that made impact in Africa and the world. The Afuze Games Village which served as camp for athletes, and devoid of distractions from the society is still lying fallow.

That could be resuscitated with modern facilities. We cannot talk about revolutionizing sports in the coun- try without mentioning the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC. It is responsible for co-ordinating and supporting Nigerian athletes in the Olympic Games and other ma- jor majors but it is has not lived up to its billing over the years.

The body needs a new leadership to galvanise the sports federations as against its present state of waiting for government to always provide for it despite the grants it gets for its activities from the International Olympic Commit- tee, IOC.

While congratulating the new helmsmen of the NSC, I urge them to look into the affairs of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF too and ensure the football body focus- es more on grassroots development for the discovery of talents for the junior national teams which should serve as reservoir for the Super Eagles.

Lastly the NSC should revisit the Statutes of the NFF which shuts out majority of stakeholders from aspiring to be members of the NFF. It should equally change the clause in the Statutes which gives the President powers to extend the tenure of the General Secretary without re- course to the Board.

And again, why is the General Secretary paid in dollars rather than the local currency which is against Civil Ser- vice rules? This should be addressed immediately.

Here is wishing Nigeria’s sports the best in 2025.

Happy New Year.