₦airaland Forum

By Tony Ubani reporting from London
Sports Minister, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi has described Team Nigeria’s predicament in the on-going London 2012 Olympics without a medal as a clear testimony to how far Nigerian sports have fallen behind.

The Minister who addressed hordes of Journalists at the Nigerian House in Stratford alongside NOC President, Engr Sani M. Ndanusa, Chef De Mission of Team Nigeria Dr Patrick Ekeji and NOC Scribe, Tunde Popoola while admitting his disappointment noted that it was a scientific diagnosis of our condition; a clear testimony to how far our sports have fallen.

‘’We shall therefore not attempt any excuses or indulge in any unproductive blame game. Rather than see this as a failure, we must see it as an opportunity to rebuild. When other countries found themselves in this kind of situation in the past, they have used the galvanizing power of disappointment to get down to work. At Atlanta 1996 Olympics, Team Great Britain won only one gold medal.

Returning home, the right questions were asked, and the necessary actions were taken. Four years later in Sydney, they returned with 11 gold out of 28 medals. In Beijing four years ago, they returned with 19 gold memdals out of 47, placing them in the fourth position.

Today, they are able to look back and say they have moved from ‘zeroes to heroes’. This is our chance. We can also do it. We must see this crisis as the necessary disequilibrium required for serious actions and drastic change. We will not allow this opportunity to pass”.

The Minister said that having being appointed Minister and chairman of National Sports Commission only two months to the Olympics, he had to learn quickly. ‘’I have not received a better lesson than in the last two weeks of London 2012 Olympics. I have learnt three key lessons.

1. Olympics medal is about hard cash. It is not a coincidence that the medals table appears to reflect the level of economic development of the countries.

But having the resources is one thing, making the right strategic investment is another. Team Great Britain largely owes its dramatic success to what is described as ‘’unprecedented financial investment” totaling up to more than £740 million over 15 years. The current annual spending on sports stands at £100 million. However, only 40% of this comes from the treasury, while the remaining 60% is lottery fund.

Conversely, Australia finished fourth in Sydney with 16 gold medals. In London, Australia has fallen outside the top 10 with 6 gold medals. Australians have blamed reduced funding for elite athletes and a lack of facilities at the grassroots levels.

He said that every medal is clearly projected and carefully planned for both in financial and technical terms. There is no short cut.

Medals are won by people who have worked hardest not by those who have prayed hard. ‘’We can only win medals by building systems that capable of producing medalists and champions not by selecting athletes that we hope can win medals”.

Honorable Minister, it is very unfortunate that we did not go to the London Olympics with the right athletes. How come Nigeria went to London without sports like corruption, money laundry, bunkering, boko haram, election rigging, bribery, false fuel subsidy claim, kidnapping, political assassins, political thugery, power failure, bad roads, exam malpractices? These are the sports that we are very good at. Please, next time go with these sports. I promise you, we will do very well. We are very, very good in these sports. We have good players and athletes who can represent us well in these sports like Farouk Lawan, Oji Uzo Kalu, Jame Ibori, IBB, Buhari, Dariye, Chimaroke Nnamani, Anini, T. Orji, Odili and others.


from kalu9909 on the Vanguard website

Please lets revisit that drawing board that has been revisited by the every sports minister in the history of Nigeria and while you at it make sure you help yourself to some loot.

Only mad people expect diffferent results whilst still doing the same thing. Olympics training starts from the day after an olypmic ends and not two weeks or a month to the games. Any what is the amount of money spent on faclities and the so called sports people.

solomon111: Let her and her parasitic country go to hell.!
Who needs them anyway?.
Tommorrow they will wonder why china is gaining grounds in africa.

Are you denying the truth

Thank God a few Nigerians are still educated and not stupid and how did you arrive at your conclusion that El rufai is the BK spokes person. if you are looking for a spokes person - look no further than within the PDP party.

I thought English language is the national language in Nigeria or is that people always twist comments to appease their stupidity. The man said everyone around GEJ are clueless . It is not that difficult. El rufai please next time write in Hausa or Yoruba

what a ffuckup police, this might have been the Nija Rawlings moment.

what is your laptop number, I only respond to numbers between 01 and 03

ok we have heard - thank you

Good Leadership is not about pleasing every single person. what nonsense, Government should compensate illegality. This kind of mindset is the reason why development will take a while before reaching Nigeria. If only GEJ had a tenth of your kind of passion, Nigeria would be a better place.

poverty continues ............

If only past and present presidents were breast feed - Maybe Nigeria wont be in a mess

tell me something new

Nigeria land of Jesters , if only they would tackle social issues with the same zeal when it comes to writting useless letters

she came first from the rear

Anybody expecting good from an evil party like PDP is simply wasting their time. if only 2 nigerians remain after bk bombs pdp will still want to rule.

Speaking to soon - Olympics not yet over.

Lies upon lies, wake me when the first cleaning boat arrives, Ogoni people please don't be deceived by this useless tactics

Without photos showing before and after - na fail be that oooo

mruknaijaboy: did u just hear the coach at time out "dont forget about it! dont forget about it! actually forget about it" which kain nonesense talk be dat?

na slip of tongue , we should be leading now - that is what he meant

Nigeria is on fire - maybe france are crap

Still doesnt change the fact that Nigeria is messed up. Who you wan complain to

the problem was " The Nigerians couldnt convert free throws - they lost potential 12 points in the whole game whilst the lits scored every one of theirs - it could have been very close game

they cant even convert free throws - what a shame so called professionals

what is with all these shooting this failed attempt at 3 points - na wa stick to near the basket shots and we win simple as abc

why cant professionals shoot a free throw - na that one dey kill nigeria

how many free throws have Nigeria lost .instead of sticking to basic near the basket shots they making adventious long range shots

so called nigerian nba players cant even shot free throws

This one na massive disconstruction . Eventually all lies would be exposed

gej is mere representation of the people of Nigeria - so what is the problem

I feel so ashamed for GEj - what a waste of precious opportunites to leave behind a lasting legacy all we hear is his wife being appointed as PS or she is fighting over land with another crazy former first lady.

Nobody has a problem with people been reinstated after an investigation has given then clean of health but when it is selective it becomes an issue. When is Salami going to be reinstated.