By Prof Emmanuel Ojeme

There seem to be many concerns about sports globally and in Nigeria, today. The FIFA and NFF houses of commotion are in the front burner. Also critical are the matters of great concern about sports as the new governments take off the starting blocks in Nigeria. As they say, charity must begin from the house. Hence, we can defer comments on the FIFA implosions till another day while we begin from the home front.

The constraining issues about sports development in Nigeria are not new. We must continue to talk about these issues at every opportunity so long as they are not addressed. This period of formation of new governments at the Federal, States and even the Local Government levels provides a fresh impetus and platform for further discussions on sports with reference to urgently needed government interventions.

Key among the issues is the implementation of government policy instruments on sports development. In this regard, we should remind ourselves of the 2009 Sports Policy and Vision 20:20:20 initiative. The 2009 sports policy framework is very detailed and would require an implementation guideline for operation. The Federal Government through its primary sports agency, the National Sports Commission would need to design guidelines for its implementation. Having formulated a policy, an action plan becomes a necessity.

The Federal Government must empower the NSC to actualise this purpose. Two years after its emergence, the level of penetration, awareness, adoption and implementation of this policy remains uncertain. It will also be necessary to harmonize the 2009 sports policy with the Vision 20:20:20.

Vision 20:20:20 is the big or organic direction of sports development in Nigeria while the policy is its operationalization framework. Are both in tandem with each other? This is something government must resolve immediately to put sports development on sound footing. We must be seen to be systematically working on this framework. It is of importance that States and Local Governments buy into these instruments. We do not need new roadmaps. We already have the maps. Now let us work on the landscape and cultivate the soil for sports development. Doing a new roadmap will definitely constitute a distraction as it happened in August 2010.

A typical feature of new governments is the appointments of key operating officers as Ministers, Commissioners, Directors of Sports, Chairmen and Board of Governing Councils where necessary. In any of these situations, politics and professionalism must harmonise. We have had Ministers of Sports without cognate professional qualifications and experience.

There are many sports Commissioners, Directors, Provosts of Sports Colleges whose education, training and competences are asymmetrical to their positions. I am saying emphatically that the transformational governance philosophy of President Goodluck Jonathan should not cultivate such habits if it wants to succeed. We need ‘round pegs in round holes’. A Minister of Sports, for example, must be a sound professional in its most generic sense. It is a disservice to sports development to appoint a Sports Minister that is not grounded in sports epistemology and experience. This must be the new principle in making such decisions at both Federal and State levels. Spor
ts must be put on the same level of professionalism with science and technology, Economy (finance), Health and Agriculture etc. in the appointment of superintending officers.

Some State Governors out of political considerations have placed non-professional Chief Executives on Colleges of Physical Education either out of ignorance or political considerations or both. A College ceases to be a physical education institution if its Chief Executive has no training and education in this field. This should not be the way to go in this new dispensation, if we are serious about achieving the bench marks of Vision 20:20:20.

The legislative arm of government should play its part, effectively. This is particularly important, by providing institutional framework for sports, quality budgetary provisions and oversight functions. It must fully understand the implications of sports development policy instruments in this regard. The dark spot remains the non-passage of the bill establishing the NSC into law. This bill has been in the National Assembly since 2007. I hope the 7th Assembly will achieve this goal.

Transformational governance must achieve high  marks in the enthronement of officers with transformational competences and knowledge. Such attributes are found among the professional ranks in sports as in other fields of service to society. Posterity is our judge in all our actions.