By Henry Umoru, Abuja
SENATE President David Mark yesterday said that if Nigeria must get it right again in sports,  which he said has collapsed, the principle of federal character in the selection process for sportsmen and women and their coaches ‘must stop’.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja while declaring open the two-day public hearing on the ‘’Downward trends in Nigeria’s sports’   Mark also observed that the bickering among sports administrators and managers has also affected sports badly.

‘’The problem is while the bickering is on and the struggle for position is going on, Nigeria is losing. We can’t tolerate it. It’s unacceptable to us as a nation because Nigerians are the losers. Individuals responsible for these unhealthy developments should stop in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.

“Interference and nepotism in the selection process is not helping matters at all. There can be no federal character in the selection of sports men and women. This is a total mockery of federal character. It is nonsense. It is not a federal, state or local government representation.
“The selection of sports men and women must be done purely on merit. All those responsible for selection of our sports men and women should hide their heads in shame.”

The Senate President who also emphasized the need for massive talent hunt at the grass roots, provision of adequate funding and sports infrastructure to discover budding talents, however advised that sportsmen and women must be adequately motivated to enable them give out their best at all times, adding, “Half-hearted measures of funding of sports will not yield the results because it will be money down the drain.
“I know that our sportsmen and women should be patriotic, but after that they need to have something in their pockets to feed themselves. A patriotic person needs to be alive to be able to show patriotism,” he added.

He therefore assured that the National Assembly would take necessary action in the area of enactment of relevant legislation to reposition Nigeria’s sports.

In his own contribution at the sitting, the Director-General, Nigeria Sports Commission, Patrick Ekeji said, “Over 70 percent of Nigerian coaches are not trained. Coaches are insincere in selecting players in age grade competitions.
”It is a disservice to allege that government interferes in the administration of sports when government is that highest contributor to the development of sports generally.

“And out of the remaining, only a few of them are educated, certificated and enlightened. The high turnover of coaches, (sacking and recruiting of coaches) is a distortion to Nigerian football administration.”

It would be recalled that on the eve of the world cup in South Africa, Nigeria in defiance to FIFA advice sacked Coach Amodu Shaibu few months to World Cup and employed a foreign coach, Lass Lagarback who failed woefully after pocketing Nigeria’s $198 million till moment.

Interestingly, the government through the Presidential Task Force, PTF, insisted on hiring a foreign coach and agreed to pay Largerback that much. That was interference at the highest order. Then NFF had decided to support Amodu with Stephen Keshi but the PTF refused and even took part in the interview and the hiring of Largerback

Also addressing the committee, Minister of sports, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, who noted that there is the need to focus on how to streamline the governance of sports in Nigeria, said, “there is a lot of ego and lack of funding. We are going for Olympics in July, up till now, there is no funding, but we have to be going around borrowing money.

There is also the need to develop a ten year strategic plan for sports which would engender continuity”.

The President, Nigeria Football Federation, Aminu Maigari,  pleaded for quick passage of the new Nigeria Football Federation, NFF act. He expressed his support for Stephen Keshi as Eagles coach. He also promised to pay better attention to the women’s league.