NSC: Abdullahi, your chance to make a difference

One of the common expressions in sports’ parlance and indeed in life is: ‘You can never say never.’

It is on this premise that I’m back on my specialism: Working memorandum for new sports minister who also doubles as the chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC).

In fact, I’d thought this my peculiar exercise would  not come too soon following the  appointment   of Alhaji  Yusuf Suleiman into the  President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s cabinet last July. The revolving exit of the NSC has been humming since the dawn of democratic rule in 1999 with as many as eight ministers coming and going yet with little or nothing done to salvage one of the country’s most troubled sectors-the ministry of sports.

With Suleiman, I thought we were guaranteed at least four year of an interrupted service but like some characters that have passed this way; he abandoned the job midstream to pursue his failed bid for the governorship ticket of the People Democratic Party in Sokoto  State. Suleiman’s loss could ultimately be the gains of the NSC with the appointment of Minister for Youth Development, Alhaji Bolaji Abdullahi as   acting sports minister ‘to oversee the country’s preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games ‘ amongst others.

Abdullahi brought into these job years of meritorious service in journalism as well as public service.  A former editor at the influential ThisDay Newspapers, he was appointed as the Special Assistant, Communication and Strategy to the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Dr Bukola Saraki in 2003 and two years later, he was appointed Special Adviser on Policy and Strategy to the Governor. Between April 2007 and May 2011, he served as the Commissioner of Education, Science and Technology.

It is on record that Abdullahi discharged his responsibilities with an uncommon approach to the delight of everyone. He was duly appointed Minister of State of Youth Development by President Goodluck last June but his elevation as the head of the sports ministry( though in acting capacity) would be his biggest challenge with the peculiar mess associated with this important but neglected sector since the beginning of democratic rule.

 “There is still a long way to go for sports to grow and developed like it is elsewhere,” former Lagos State Governorship aspirant, Mr. Jimi Agbaje told me sometimes in 2009. “We are not getting it right and that is the sad aspect of it. If you look at the developed countries, you would agree with me that a lot still has to be done for sports in Nigeria. Sport is big business everywhere but we can’t say the same about sports in Nigeria.”

 Such has been the persistent reservations about those charges with the administration of sports generally and this I believe, would task the ingenuity of Abdullahi as well as unblemished record both as a journalist as well as administrator.

As I repeated here, t is really not out of place to question the seeming abnormality in the running of sports in Nigeria: Could Nigeria‘s strange untidiness be a consequence of putting a square peg in a round hole? Could it be a product of general decadence in every sector of the economy and the society in general? What is that awful thing commonly called the Nigerian factor that has stifled the development of sports? Why is it difficult for the National Sports Commission to churn out athletes as it were in the 1980s? Why the   overbearing attitude of successive chairman of the NSC on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) without due diligence to the rule of law?  How come  Corporate Nigeria are less enthusiastic about ploughing their huge  profit to sports  development ?Why is the NSC preoccupied with only football without implementing  its so-called SWOT(Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Treats of Nigerian Sports) project outlined by Dr. Patrick Ekeji, Director General  of the NSC? Why is the sports ministry profoundly corrupt?

These are some of the issues at the root of the problem but time and time again, successive ministers just gloss over them consequently the total collapse of the once thriving sports industry.

The 1970s and early 1980s is unarguably the best years in term of physical and human development under the late Pa Isaac Akioye.  He was regarded as the doyen of sports in Nigeria because his focus was not limited to football but sports in general but the same cannot be said of the successive administrators.

“Nobody is a super human,” Akioye who died at 82 on February 4, 2007, once told me.

 “I think tribalism and nepotism introduced into the running of sports in the 1980s turned everything upside down. What has happened to the selection procedure? What is the quality of Nigerian coaches? No country can rise beyond its coaches; the better educated our coaches, the best for our sports.

“Government too has not seen sports as an industry. It is sad and unfortunate that Nigeria is neither here or there in terms of sports development. It is difficult to project into the future because nothing is being done by government and the multi-national companies to aid sports development,” added the late sage.

Let’s hear Agbaje again:” Sometimes I find it funny and ridiculous when people argue that you need only sports people to administer sports but administration of sports in Nigeria is nothing to write home about. Sport cannot achieve much in isolation, we need to bring so much inter play of forces in sports administration. Look at football for instance, I don’t think that it is only former footballers that we need in administration of the game.

“You need different professional to drive such vision from one stage to the other and that is what I think we need in order to effectively manage our sports. Unfortunately again, a minister does not last one or two years before he’s removed. A sports minister is picked out of political exigencies and seldom based on competence. It’s seen as compensation in return for a political favour. That way, we cannot move our sports forward.”

What else do I need to add? Agbaje practically lifted things from my heart and I concur that you don’t need a man with distinction in physical education or sports psychology to run sports successfully. What is needed to overturn the misfortune of the past is a man that has the passion for excellence and that is why the appointment of Abdullahi calls for some celebration.

 “He (Abdullahi) has a passion and there’s no minister more competent than he is,” noted a senior Editor at ThisDay Newspapers.

Passion? What is passion? Is passion not tied to performance? Of what use is passion at the NSC now?

 “People pursuing their passion have a clear sense of performance metrics,” noted by

John Hagel in Edge Perceptive.  “These are not externally defined and imposed metrics, but individually adopted metrics that help passionate people to keep track of their own performance on a continuing basis and identify performance gaps.”

People who are passionate about excellence he said ‘have a deep sense of integrity about their quest and they have demanding expectations about themselves in terms of performance.’

In his previous assignments, Abdullahi reportedly adopted scientific approach to management – the theory propounded by Frederick Winslow Taylor ‘to improve labour productivity by analyzing and establishing workflow processes.’

Often referred to as Taylorism, scientific approach is more than a cursory look at issues. It would be interesting to see how Abdullahi would deploy this approach in bringing about the desired changes.

His immediate task  is to ensure a successful outing at the  London 2012 Olympics and the cry in the land is that  there are no funds to even prepare athletes for an even that is just months away.

When Nigeria failed woefully at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Dr. Ekeji said that Team Nigeria would henceforth field only athletes where they have comparative advantage. He said that attention would be given to athletics, table tennis, combat sports like weightlifting, wrestling, judo and of course, football. "I'm not too surprised about the performances of Team Nigeria at this Olympics though we set a 10-Gold medal target. For the first time in our history, we prepared well but you would agree with me that two-three months of preparations are not even enough to compete well at the Olympics. We must now look at our strong points in future international assignments. In fact, there should be systemic plans to ensure that our performances in future international competitions turn out well."

But nothing has changed. All over the land, the cry is that the NSC has become an albatross to the development of sports in Nigeria and it would need a valiant approach for Abdullahi to effect changes-positive ones for that matter.

The Sympathetic Sultan

A great leader, according to an African proverb, is an ordinary person with extraordinary wisdom.

This much was displayed by His Royal Eminence Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar when a delegation of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) paid him a courtesy call during the week.

 “It is good that your Board has realized the shortcomings and the pitfalls of the outgoing year. The first step to solving a problem is to accept that there is a problem, and from there, you move to tackle it. Now, it is time for your Board to come up to solutions that will propel our football even to heights that it had never been before,” The Sultan of Sokoto was quoted as saying.

Yet some mischief makers were of the view that such counsel was not in the right direction rather, they want the hammer on the NFF at all cost.

It is unfortunate that results have not been favourable to the NFF despite given their best and such clarion call to duty by The Sultan of Sokoto is in the right direction. The NFF is left with no choice than to bend backward for a better new season come 2012 and beyond.

Softly, softly Big Boss

Nigerian coaches are indeed a special breed and current Super Eagles’ coach, Stephen Keshi (Big Boss) is already proving that he is indeed an enigma!

Think he is schooled enough to know that you don’t run the national team on the pages of newspaper or on the FM radio stations. One of the reasons many were rooting for the employment of Keshi was the perception that he is matured than some of contemporaries but we are certainly seeing a new Keshi with his penchant to have his say even on mundane issues in the media. Agreed, the media has the right to probe and seek for those exclusive stories; it is left for Keshi to know when to talk and when not to talk. What Nigerian football need today is a silent revolution; Keshi should not bore us with how he wants to do the job. He should just put his heart to the job before the same media would jest him as the ‘loquacious Keshi!’

The lessons from Morocco

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”-George Bernard Shaw

 The maiden edition of the CAF Under-23 Olympic African Championship held in Morocco has come and gone with prizes handed out to the deserving teams: Gabon emerged Champions against all odds; Morocco ended as First Runner Up; Egypt finished as Second Runner up-the trio automatically qualified for London 2012.

West African side, Senegal still have a chance to join the London 2012 party if they win their scheduled play-off with an Asian team in the coming months.  These teams would be hoping to emulate the successes recorded by their illustrious predecessors like Nigeria and Cameroon who respectively brought honours to the continent by winning the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Football Tournament and the Sydney 2000 Olympic Football Tournament (OFT).

It is a shame that Nigeria who  nearly won the OFT at the Beijing 2008 only to be stopped by Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the final, failed  to cross the Rubicon to the chagrin of the public  and press. As I said here last week, the blame should be placed squarely at the doors of the coaching staff who failed to plan (or better put, planned to fail) having failed to realise that the African Championship in Morocco was out of the FIFA’s mandatory calendar that would have compelled European clubs to release players that were hitherto the fulcrum of the team.

Yet there are lessons to be learned here and we don’t have to look further than the successful teams at the African Championship in order to plan for the future.

Sometime ago I noted that one of the problems with  Nigerian coaches is often  their failure  to look at how things are done elsewhere and I actually did a two-part series  on this in 2007 after my coverage of the 2007 FIFA Under-20  World Cup in Canada.

Following the hypothesis championed  by  Jack Canfield in ‘The Success Principle: How To Get From Where You Are To Be Where You Are Going’ I argued that it is about time our coaches familiarize themselves with the  working modules of their  successful counterparts to fashion  out a winning formula for Nigeria’s national teams.

In Canfield’s Principle 9, he stated matter-of-factly that ‘success in fact, leaves clues.’ He noted that, there is nothing new under the earth ‘since almost everything you are trying to do have already been done by someone else.’ He further argued that for virtually everything you want to do, ‘there are books and courses on how to do it.’

The same point was also emphasized by Paul Eden in Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite and he actually encouraged anybody ‘to steal (ideas) from anywhere that resonates with inspiration, or fuels your imagination,’ arguing further: ‘Authenticity is invaluable while originality is non-existent.’

Elizabeth Quinn, a renowned exercise physiologist and fitness consultant equally outlined that an any coach that desire success must seek for new information: “While a good coach knows a great deal about a sport (s) he must continue to learn and develop new training techniques. Staying up to date of new research, training and rehab information, attending coaching clinics, camps, and seeking out tips from elite coaches and athletes is a sign of a great coach. “

So rather than cry over split milk following the unprecedented failure of all the national teams to qualify for any international competition next year, think the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) should rake-up the pieces  and strategize for the future. Think it’s is no longer fashionable to say that  being a former national team player is a prerequisite to coaching any of the national teams again based on recent experiences that brought only tears and pains to the teeming fans. Sorry, I digress.

How did Gabon break their duck by winning their first continental honour? How did Morocco returned to winning ways after years in the doldrums?  How The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (RMFF) did pulled their chestnut from the fire after slump by all its national team?

Morocco’s Dutch coach, Pim Verbeek gave a rare insight in an interview posted on the Confederation of African Football portal:  “The Royal Moroccan Football Federation is keen to develop and strengthen the country’s talent and qualifying for major tournaments like this one and the Olympics set this programme on sound footing.

“The Royal Academy is doing some fantastic work nurturing players for competent junior sides at U-17, U-20 and U-23. This bodes well for the future of Moroccan football and l am pleased that Federation after seeing Morocco struggle a bit of the years to reach AFCON finals and other major competitions has shown commitment to rebuilding Moroccan football. I am pleased to be part of this programme and believe this qualification for Olympic finals will go some way in encouraging the work currently on-going in Moroccan football development.”

With the exemption of the Atlas Lions, Verbeek is in charge of all RMFF’s youth teams  and this I think would  help  in systematic  transition of players through the under-age cadres and ultimately to the senior national team.

Another fundamental problem with the Nigerian football has to do with the fact that players so discovered at the youth levels hardly progress through the rank to play for the Super Eagles. So many reasons have been construed for this principal of which is age cheating.

In 2007, the Golden Eaglets won the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Korea and one would have expected that the bulk of that team should be the axle of the Under-23 team today but the reverse seemed to be the case.

 Recall that Vanguard Newspapers wrote a critical editorial on Wednesday, September 12, 2008 following the victory of the Golden Eaglets asking: “What will this victory change in the way Nigeria manage sports? Hardly anything changes. Victories in 1985 and 1993 produced great rallies, long promises and precious little after.”

Today, the current board of the NFF are wiser and they need to be commended and encouraged to deal ruthlessly wit players that falsify their ages to feature for the age-grade teams.

The point was made by Barrister Chris Green in his riot act to the national Under-17 Women’s team, Flamingoes: “The NFF wants to make this clear now: There is zero tolerance for age cheating. We no longer have any patience for players who would come to the national team, falsify their age to be able to play age-grade competition and fail to fulfil their potential years after.”

It goes without saying that it is not only the responsibility of the NFF to clean the Augean stable especially as it bothers on the age cheat. Everyone desirous to see the good old days of the 1990s when Nigerian football was on the high must ensure that only the right players are fielded at the youth levels. If that is done, the failure of the Dream Team V at the African Championship would be a temporary setback.

Wise words from Sambawa but....

I actually pinched myself not knowing whether I was in a dream land following comments attributed to erstwhile Sports Minister and National Sports Commission (NSC), Seidu Samaila Sambawa on the way out of the quagmire for Nigerian football. 

“The downward trend in Nigerian football will continue until such a time when the NSC will come to its responsibility and disengage from the continual rift with the football federation,” Sambawa said.

Good talk. But why should we allow Sambawa to insult our collective sensibility when he actually contributed to the problem facing Nigerian football today.

Is it not the same Sambawa that empowered the self-appointed stakeholders against the Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima and co in 2006? Is it not the same Sambawa that took on everyone including the press for calling him to order in the way he was handling things following the contentious 2006 elections into the board of the football federation?

At the height of the crisis, John-Joshua Akanji (my colleague then at SoccerStar), sent a terse sms to Sambawa: ‘your action and handling of the NFA election is despicable and not in the best interest of Nigerian football.’

But what was Sambawa’s reply?

 “Thank you. Please, don’t ever send me this type of text message,”Sambawa countered Akanji. “If you are an ignorant person, not I. You and some of your corrupt and selfish friends are responsible for the mess in Nigerian sports in the name of journalism. Please, note that I am not just a minister but also an international publisher, and in my media chains we don’t do junk journalism. What are your credentials?”

In fact, it was based on this brusque reply by Sambawa that I engaged him in that my famous article: Sambawa, what are your credentials?

I stated inter alia: “I wonder the kind of publisher Sambawa is when he cannot even separate the grains from the chaff. But who would blame him? I found it strange to hear from Sambawa that he has a media chain because the question everyone asked after his appointment last year was: Samba – who?

It was as if he came from another planet because many did not know his antecedents. It is doubtful if Sambawa is listed in Nigeria’s who-is-who. Until he was thrust unto the Ministry of Sports, Sambawa was a Mr Nobody because we can’t even put a face behind his name. So, what are his own credentials?”

So why is he trying to stand history on his head when he too actually participated in the bazaar to kill Nigerian football. Sambawa like every dog had his day at the NSC but he failed to do the right thing. He should stop pontificating now as if he has any workable solution to the problem at hand.

Goodbye Bada!

I struck friendship with the late Police Officer, Sunday Bada long after his career as a star athlete was over.

I remember vividly that encounter at the imposing Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja in 2003 when we were all jostling to be accredited for one of the events heralding the 8^th All Africa Games. I actually walked to him and requested for an interview and pronto he acceded to my request.

It was Bada at his talking best as we spoke on diverse issues: from police to his speciality as a quarter-miller. The interview published in the Sunday Sun of June 2, 2003 was crafted with the headlines: Policeman Sunday Bada Blasts: ‘I’m Too Big For Egunje’

Bada, who earned his stripes as a police officer on account of his exploits in track and field for Team Nigeria, argued that the society gets the kind of police it deserves insisting that he was too refined to bring himself low by demanding N20 at police checkpoints.

One of the first people to call me when the interview was published was foremost athletics writer, Dare Esan of Complete Sports: ‘Moraks just saw your interview with Bada. It was a nice one; you know not many would have thought of that angle.’

Years after when I needed to speak to Bada, all I needed was to say that the journalist you told ‘I’m too big for egunje.’ He would smile and says ‘no problem.’

Upon his return from India where he was treated following a near-fatal accident, I sent a reporter,   Gbenga Abulude to him for an interview. That must be one of the major interviews he granted before death came calling on Monday after he slumped at the Surulere National Stadium- a place he actually entertained all of us. May God grant his family the fortitude to bear this loss? Good bye, Bada. 

Wise words from Sambawa but....

Tomorrow, I’m tackling former Sports Minister/Chairman, National Sports Commission, Seidu Samaila Sambawa following his prescription for the never-ending rift between the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the NSC.  Sambawa should have allowed the sleeping dog lie since he contributed his part to the near comatose of the sports industry. Keep a date with Inside Soccer Extra in National LIFE tomorrow.   

NFF: Results confusing the realities

 “The reality of life is that your perceptions -right or wrong- influence everything else you do. When you get a proper perspective of your perceptions, you may be surprised how many other things fall into place.”-Roger Birkman

.AMINU MAIGARI, NFF'S PRESIDENT

Some months before he was sacked by Barcelona in 1996, Johan Cruyff was pressed by reporters why the club’s unexpected slump after so many glorious years in charge and the Dutch legend in his usual whimsical style answered: “In the first place, problems are obviously there to be solved but often a result is confused with the situation. Of course, everything is being said and written in a particular way. Little hints are given to see how people react, how they see the situation. To see whether the situation solves itself. That’s why I call them test balloons. ”

For the younger minds, Cruyff is regarded as the best player of his generation having won the Ballon d'Or three times in 1971, 1973 and 1974. He equally had a nearly unblemished record as coach, turning Barcelona to one of the most-feared teams of the 1990s. Parading notable players of that era including the like of Michael Laudrup, Romario, Ronald Koeman, Gheorghe Hagi and Hristo Stoichkov, Josep Guardiola (present Barcelona’s manager) amongst others, Cruyff’s Barcelona won virtually everything on offer: La Liga four times between 1991 and 1994 and they beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 European Cup Winners' Cup final and the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley. They also won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992 and three Supercopa de España.

Suddenly, the team floundered partly due to injuries to keep players and partly due to some tough luck as he failed to win trophies in his final two seasons and he was widely quoted as saying that:  ‘being calm is the only thing that can help. ’

What Cruyff was driving at was the need for the Catalan to put things in perspective with the view of building for the future but Barcelona’s management then was having none of that and  since the centre can no longer hold between the parties, things finally fell apart.

 Today, Nigerian football is at the crossroad with failure of all the national teams to qualify for any international tournament next year. The Super Eagles missed qualification for the 2012 African Cup of Nations, the Super Falcons and six-time record champions of the African Women’s Championship failed to qualify for the last All Africa Games and were also bundled out of the 2012 Olympic Football Tournament. The virus equally spread  to the Under -23 national team  as the ‘Dream Team’ which hitherto remains the country’s best hope dithered  by failing to qualify for the London 2012 Olympic Tournament after also failing to make it to the last  All Africa Games  in Maputo.

In summary, Nigerian football has been on a freefall and ‘everything is being said and written in a particular way’ with many asking the board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to resign en-mass since they could not stem the tide of failure.

Agreed nobody is happy with the misfortune that has enveloped Nigerian football recently, but I wonder how the purging of the NFF would solve the problem at hand. Some said that the present crisis in Nigerian football is systemic, so how do we expect a board that is less than two years in office solve those deep-rooted complexity?

The hate-mob that saw nothing good about the previous board of the NFF has started this smear campaign for a total overhaul of Nigerian football yet again. Their warped argument that the only solution to Nigerian football problems was sacking the NFF when the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup under the leadership of Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima after his famous extract: “World Cup is not our birthright.” The ‘sack  the NFF’ argument that equally  bandied last year to oust Alhaji Sani Lulu and co in spite of the fact  that their board qualified all the national teams for every available tournaments  between  2006 and 2010.

It is needless to say that such antidote has never helped Nigerian football in the past and it is very doubtful that it would work even now if we hearken to the calling of the doomsday prophets.

We sounded the warning here the last time when  the then  sports minister, Ibrahim Isa Bio went on  political suicide all in the name of restructuring  Nigerian football. He dragged top members of the Lulu-led board to the anti-graft agency but the manner he left his job as the Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC) to pursue his failed bid for the Governorship of Kwara State left so much to desire.

Some 17 months later, we were still a point of nowhere with two more ministers, Professor Taoheed Adedoja and Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman promising so much but delivering very little for the beautiful game they pledged to hoist to a greater height.

One of the biggest problems befuddling Nigerian football is the quick-fix approach which unfortunately has led us to this sorry state. Instead of looking at things holistically, the normal recourse is to browbeat the NSC to come down heavily on the NFF  anytime  something untoward happens to the national teams- particularly, the Super Eagles. The avowed critics of the NFF are always quick to compare and contrast Nigerian football with other efficient federations without considering the efforts that had made top football-playing countries well-oiled machinery.

Without stability in the administration of the game, Nigerian football would continue to suffer. Very recently, I drew  attention  to the fact that a certain Julio Grondona has been running  the affairs of the Argentine Football Federation  since 1979 and was recently handed a record ninth term which would extend his tenancy to 36 years!  Nobody has been  given  a second term in-charge  of the NFF yet the purists want things to evolve as if administering football is as simple as A-B-C. Of course, I’m not an advocate of an endless tenure for anybody occupying the ‘hot’ presidency of the NFF but certainly, there should be a certain form of stability before anything meaningful can be achieved.

Painful as the Nigeria’s situation is, the confusion over the cataclysmic performance of all the national teams recently have blindfolded many to see the efforts of the present board led by Alhaji Aminu Maigari.  Some argued that the board is even an aberration but what kind of jaundiced opinion is that even when a competent court in the land has given them a carte blanche.

 It is there for all to see that the NFF have done their best in the present circumstance and the hard truth is that Nigerian football is suffering from the ills of many years of underdevelopment of the domestic game for instance .Painful as the situation is today, the reality of the situation is that Nigerian football would certainly have to undergo this phase. One notable critics of the NFF usually say that Nigerian football must undergo a crucible of fire before the Super Eagles can repeat their glorious years of the 1990s. Yet, they are not ready to give the NFF space and time to sort things out rather they are looking for the usual knee-jerk approach that has not bring anything worthwhile. 

In spite of that, people who genuinely have the interest of Nigerian football at heart believe this is just a passing phase that would certainly go away if we don’t pull down the roof following these recent failures.

That was the point meaningfully made by erstwhile national team’s coach, Paul Hamilton in a well-publicised interview with Supersports.com: "It's quite unfortunate and sad that we failed again to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics men football event. We have to start off again. Such things have happened to other countries and they later came back stronger. I see our situation as a passing phase”.

" What we are experiencing is part of history, it will get to a point where we will start to laugh again once we are able to learn and put a solid structure in place,” he added.

Hamilton’s is similar to Cruyff’s formula: “In principle, you have to deal with the problem, because you have to deal with results. But I think you have to keep your mind where it should be: the team, on the situation, on one confrontation after another!”

The Maigari board has already won the trophy for improved welfare condition of national team players and would go down in history for sparing nothing in preparations of national teams for any tournament. That is the reality of the situation. The blame should squarely be at the doors of the coaches and players who failed to up their game. 

 

What happens to the so-called reforms of Mr. Courageous?

SULEIMAN(right) with DG PATRICK EKEJI

Since the turn of democratic dispensation, the sports sector has really suffered much with ministers hopping-in and-out of the sports ministry vis-à-vis the National Sports Commission.

At the end of the first term of Yar’Adua-Goodluck Jonathan, four ministers had actually taken their turns and last year, Alhaji Ali Suleiman mounted the saddle.

It is said that thunder doesn’t strike twice but such is not the case with the sports sector following the resignation (or is it sacking) of Suleiman to pursue his ambition to become Governor of Kano State.

This was the same path  some of his predecessors  took: Seidu Samaila Sambawa stepped down to  contest  for  the  Governorship  of Kebbi  State;  that Alhaji Ibrahim Bio also  left the NSC midstream to pursue ambition to become the Governor of Kwara state.

When Suleiman was threatening fire that he has the courage to turn things around particularly within the vexed football arena, I forewarned that the man maybe talking like a typical politician.

“I will not only have the courage, I have the courage to do whatever it takes to manage sports in Nigeria,” Suleiman said. “I am just coming into this circle and I do not belong to any of the feuding parties. I will have to take a decision to tell the world that we cannot allow personal egos to hamper sports in Nigeria,” he added.

I asked then: ‘Can Suleiman walk the talk? Does he have the raw courage to deal ‘ruthlessly’ with the cartel that has hindered the development of sport in the country? Would he last long enough in the saddle before he is pushed off without realising his set objectives? How long can he stave off pressure from principal officials at the NSC who might want to win him over to their side with pecuniary gains? What does Suleiman know about being courageous?’

Suleiman instituted a so-called football reforms committee but hours before the committee submitted his report, Suleiman was already on his way out.  So what happens to the so-called far-reaching recommendations of the committee?  I bet this would rot in the cooler of the NSC like all other previous ad-hoc committees’ report of the past years. Maybe I would be proved wrong this time.