By Desmond Ekwueme

Is the sporting sector of Nigeria sick? Of course, it is. Some would even tell you that it is on a life support and just hanging onto the goodwill it recorded decades ago.

Decades when Pa Sunday Dankaro set the tone of sports development rolling….and decades when Air Comdr. Emeka Omeruah, Anthony Ikhazoboh, Patrick Okpomo, John Obakpolor among others invested time, energy and expertise to achieve glorious feats for the sector.

Nigerian Sports is in a coma. It doesn’t matter what anyone wants to say or put forward as a defence. It will merely be seen as an amateur make-up job on an about to wed couple.

Minister after Minister, we end up seeing politicians who want to use the office to climb the ladder of their political journey to achieve a lifetime dream. We haven’t had an administrator who has genuine intension to build it develop sports. It has always been persons aspiring to be Governor, Senator or Secretary to the Federal Government.

Who do you blame? Of course, the appointer who works with personalities thrown up by the system. Round pegs hardly go into round holes. Those appointed are picked to settle political agitators or say thank you to those who were involved in the process of the coming of the government or administration.
We have seen farmers, hunters and water engineers as Sports Ministers. Nothing is wrong in these people becoming Ministers you may argue after all, a comedian is president of Ukraine, a security guard is president of Gambia etc.

But the thing that is wrong with these people is they fail to carve a niche for themselves by continuing from where their failed predecessors stopped. No innovation, no ideas, no sense of development and no sense of urgency. Ordinary to lift the template of a working sports system from other climes and implement it here becomes a herculean task. We keep running round a circle all in guise of advancing in sports administration and development.

Straight to the thrust of this piece. The young man whose picture is here is David Doherty. A Nigerian, ex-footballer with defunct Concord FC and Flying Eagles of Nigeria. He is a sports administrator based in the United Kingdom, England precisely. He is married and hails from Surulere in Lagos.

I never knew him from Adam until that faithful evening of August 17, 2022. In my character, I didn’t pick the call since the number wasn’t on my contact list and I had no discussion prior to this call from anyone in the UK.

He dropped a message on my WhatsApp. At this point, I felt this person really wanted us to talk. I breezed through my routine investigation network to check on who he is. I was convinced he is genuine.
So we got talking. He told me why he was calling and how he got my contact. He needed my assistance and advice on his huge plan and dream to revive Nigerian sports but using football as the launchpad.

His working document was amazing and loaded. Obviously, he had worked with a better, functional and result-oriented system with great results as testaments. So he knew every step he was taking which included dragging me into his project. He was damn sure of his plan, programs and personnel.

Basically, the NFF Election of that year was a step to climbing the stairs of his dream and aspirations. He was discouraged at the earliest stage by some forces and almost frustrated by members of the cabal running football.

Together, we marched on to wither those storms. I made it clear to him that he wasn’t going to get two votes let alone win. But his determination to make a bold statement with the election should be our focus since it’s going to be masque covering the real plot.

We set out to work. I got enemies even within my constituency who fought me for supporting a candidate who is coming from Diaspora “who knows next to nothing about football here.” I was asked, “Who knows him?” Who the Hell is he?” “Do you think this is UK?” Is NFF Presidency now a child’s play?” The questions and mockery were uncountable.

But I wasn’t deterred. My answers to the questions were supplied immediately after the election was held. Today, David Doherty is a household name in our sporting circle. His views are sought after by literally all major sports programmes on Television and Radio stations. Hardly does a week pass without a call put across to him to share his opinion on major sporting issues. That’s a big success for me. Perhaps if he had backed out of the election, he won’t have been contributing through his opinions on sports shows helping to shape our sporting sector and the thoughts and reasoning of those in-charge.

Away from the election, David has started unveiling his projects and program which includes SPORTS+EDUCATION, SCHOOLS FOOTBALL FEDERATION & COMMUNITY TOURNAMENTS.
With these projects, surely the Goliaths of Nigerian sports will go down to create an enabling environment, platforms, templates and programs for the revival of the nation’s sports. By Goliaths, this writer means removing the bureaucratic bottlenecks destroying the sector and taking sports back to the stone-age.

David is just one of many Nigerian youths desirous of true change for a better society through sports. He has invested immense time, energy and funds to drive his dream. Flying to and fro London-Abuja-Lagos-London almost on monthly basis to monitor structures and facilities put in place and as well follow-up programs with partners isn’t a joke.

This young man means well for sports in Nigeria. He only needs the support or assistance from the powers-that-be to seal the loopholes that could hinder his plans. He equally needs assistance by way of partnership with the managers of the private sector to ensure his dream for Nigeria through sports comes through.

Already, David enjoys these supports from clubs like Southampton FC, Chelsea FC and Arsenal FC in England alongside other corporate organizations that has keyed into his goals for all to achieve more across board.

The David ready to heal Nigerian sports may be here after all. The David ready to kill Goliaths of Nigerian sports may be David Doherty.