The All Nigeria Peoples Party on
Tuesday said corruption and
mismanagement is the major
reason why Nigeria failed at the
just concluded Olympic Games in
London.
The party in a statement signed by
its National Publicity Secretary,
Hon. Emma Eneukwu, also advised
President Goodluck Jonathan’s
administration to probe the
corruption in the sports sector and
save the country from similar
shame in the future.
ANPP said the FG should carry out a
sincere investigation into why the
sum of N1.9 billion was disbursed
late to the country’s Olympic
contingents, as alleged by the
National Sports Commission.
It insisted that eminent sports
personalities, including past
Olympic Games participants should
be summoned to a roundtable to
discuss what went wrong and
suggest how best to move the
nation forward.
The party suggested that
allegations of fraud, favoritism and
foul play by the nations’ sports
officials before and during the
Olympics should be properly
probed with a view to punishing
culprits.
The statement reads:
“It is a fact that the Olympics is
about marketing culture through
sports and showing the world that
one’s country is modern and has an
unbridled aspiration to greatness.
Therefore, in view of our great
party’s belief that Nigeria deserves
to be the clear and unambiguous
leader of Africa, the leader of the
black world and a major leader in
the world, the All Nigeria Peoples
Party was disappointed to witness
this abysmal failure.
“We believe that it is a sign of the
collapse of the nation’s sports
superstructure. Not only is this
great nation face-to-face with the
heart-rending fact that the
government of the day does not
inspire the youths, the most
heinous is that it has allowed the
cancerous corruption in the system
to seep into this youth-oriented
sector.
“Today, schools are licensed
without giving thought to the
presence of sports facilities. The
talented ones jet out of the country
to play for other nations because
the government has no robust,
private sector driven sports
competitions, clinics and projects.
Our sports professionals are in
despair because of lack of upgrade,
equipment and adequate funding
as at when due.
“ In fact this government does not
have a well articulated and
sustainable sports policy that is
ambitious and in consonance with
international best practices in
sports development.”
Culled: The Nation