Abuja – Sports Minister Taoheed Adedoja said on Monday in Abuja that Nigeria could not justify its absence in most top positions on the continent’s sports bodies.

Adedoja said in an interview said that Nigeria had all it took in terms of personnel and resources to have its citizens leading the sports bodies.

“I am not pleased with what we have on ground now whereby no Nigerian is President or Chairman of any of the more than 25 continental sports organisations, except one.

“We only have Mr Kwesi Sagoe leading the African cricket body, but we deserve more than this because we have the men with the sports intellectual capability and experience,” he said.

Adedoja added: “We also have the resources as a country, not only to get there but to even ensure the smooth running of these associations.

“In addition to this, we have the goodwill of being a country the others can always rely upon in terms of bailing out the sub-region or continent when the need arises.’’

Adedoja, who is also the current Chairman of the African Union (AU) Sports Ministers Forum, promised to use his position to ensure that there was a change.

“I will do my best in that position to get Nigerian sports administrators elected into top positions in the international sports bodies on the continent,” he said.

Adedoja, who is also the chairman of the National Sports Commission, restated his resolve to use his position to fight for a change in the organisation of sports in Africa.

“We have to change what we have now, and I have resolved to use this position to change some of the decisions and actions that have put Nigeria in a disadvantaged position in
international sports and politics.

“One particular instance is the exclusion of the wrestling sport, a traditional African sport, from the forthcoming 10th All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique,’’ he said.

The games’ Local Organising Committee (COJA) has excluded wrestling and weightlifting from the list of 20 sports to feature at the games, scheduled for Sept. 3 to
Sept. 18, 2011.(NAN)