By Ime Bassey
As the All African Games and the Olympics holding next year in London draw near, the sight of Nigerians is focused  at the state of other sports in the country.

A Nigerian cyclist leading the pack as they journey from the national stadium during the first edition of the ECOWAS international tour of West Africa. Photo 234next

In a chat with Sunday Vanguard Sports, former President of the Cycling Federation of Nigeria, Rev. Moses Iloh opened up on issues affecting the sports in the country and its remedy.

“It is very sad and pathetic. Cycling is a sport which we endeavored to put together and we have been ensuring that it gets to the high level where it ought to be. I can remember clearly how I managed to take the Nigeria cycling team to the cycling championships. That was when it was a sport that was thriving.

We had a position in the Union of International Cycling, we had a notable position in the African confederation of cycling and we have done our best as we cannot be their for ever. One had expected that those coming would continue from where we stopped in following all we did so the sports would be what everybody can reckon with.But somehow I don’t know, I think somebody has to tell me why the National Sports Commission felt cycling should be down graded, the federation became an association that had to be concessioned.

I want to know what makes cycling inferior to boxing, football and athletics. This I cannot understand. When we were around, cycling got to a level where it became an enviable sports and cyclist enjoyed it. We had the privilege and opportunity to raise top female cyclists in Africa.

Suddenly, some funny  people in the sports commission thought it that it should be handed over to a firm as a concessioned sports.
When I was the president of the federation, I struggled and struggled to make sure that the sport grows with world class facilities that can bring the best out of the cyclists. My struggles led to the construction  of  an  international Velodrum by the Obasanjo government which to me is the only thing he did; and that velodrum is the best in Africa but the same sports commission connived and ensured that the velodrum was not used.

I had an understanding with the International Cycling  Union during the All African Games held in Abuja that they would bring track bicycles as a gift to Nigerians but the sports commission sabotaged it. We have tried everything in this country to make the sports grow from where it was yester-years to where it ought to be today. How can you build such an edifice with billions of Naira and you let it waste like that. I heard sometime ago that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were using it as a campaign ground,’’ he said.

It for their campaign, they even destroyed the track. It is a shame that this is a country where people do anything they want and go away with it.

Nobody has called the sports commission to ask them why. I have screamed, protested, shouted, wrote letters upon letters even going by myself to Abuja yet, all to no avail.

About two years ago, I brought two world class cycling coaches from the UK; it did not cost the government any penny. I got them to help prepare the cyclists that were preparing for the All African Games or so, I wanted them to go to the velodrum take pictures of it, send it to the international body to help pressure the government to look into the issue of leaving it fallow. I did all this because of the passion for the sports and also to develop the Nigerian youths.

I do not need to be president of any association before I support it. I see it as a serious crime on the part of those doing this because it is not every youth that would be a footballer, some like to box, some like to swim, others like to run and jump; so why should you deprive anybody the opportunity to develop in his/her choice of sports. My understanding of sports is that it is a vehicle for developing the youths and Nigeria has a teeming crowd of youths, over 50% of Nigerians are young people and what is money that they are killing themselves for.  Nigeria has time and talent in abundance.
The worst aspect of this is that, the government built a world class velodrum since 2003 and it has not been used for one day. The sports agency sat on it and nobody has asked them why, because this is a country where corruption rules the land. If you are corrupt you will have companion and nothing will happen to you. When you have a velodrum built with billions and allow it to lie fallow, it is corruption.

They should be called to order because it is corruption. The Nigerian youth today who want to take up cycling as a sport cannot do so because of lack proper facilities.

I had proposed to them before that there should be nothing like sports commission but sports authority, they refused to listen because they want to steal money from it.

I told them that if you have a sports authority, let their job be to help provide sporting facilities in Nigeria, let the federal government allow every Local Government to have a sporting facility of its own choice. Let the state governments too provide facilities, same also for the federal government. With this, the sports authority’s job would be to make sure that all these sports facilities are in good shape and they are maintained.

Having done this in 774 local government areas, you would have jobs for 774 coaches, cleaners and food_vendors for these facilities, automatically you have provided employment for the  unemployed and also in turn you have successfully taken the youths from off the streets.

Now, these  youths only have to pay just small money to use these facilities of their choice in any of the local government they feel okay  with. Give them one year, you would have so much talent that you would not know what to do with them. But nobody would want to listen to it. I have said these in different ways, through memos, term papers and articles, they would not listen. May be they would listen now from you. Because it would not give them chance to steal, so it cannot work.

This is why you talk about cycling in this country, it provokes my thoughts and makes me look back and say, ‘how can you cut your nose to spite you face’. Today in Nigerian it does not bother them. In France, cycling is their National sports, go to Belgium, Germany, US and even India, more so, it is an Olympic original sport.  In cycling at the Olympics, you have more than twenty something medals while football you only have one medal.

We have girls in this country who had returned in good time that can match any other girl in the world, what is their crime that you deny them the opportunity to develop and win medals for this country? I want somebody to tell me, if it is not fraud and corruption, I would like to know,” Iloh stressed.