Wow! DJ Pee. Evergreen man on the grind. One love bro

Only in Nigeria...

[quote author=MansaPiye post=44030666]
Will you stop talking rubbish!

2017 National budget has since being laid by PMB to the National Assembly before the close of 2016. The budget of course, is a proposal subject to the National Assembly’s input on the expected revenue and expenditure of the year in question. The executive’s proposal for 2017 is the highest in the history of budgeting in Nigeria. An amount of N7.2trillion Naira is being tabled. Expectedly the National Assembly on receiving the Appropriation Bill as laid have already taken steps to passing the budget into law. It has gone through first and second reading and has now being referred to various committees of the Assembly for further deliberations and cross-examinations of the various MDA’s by the legislators. This is the season of massive traffic from Shagari Avenue (where most of the MDA’s are located) to the National Assembly Complex. The routine of budget defence will go on for another two to three weeks. Legislators are expected to review last year’s expenditure of the MDA’s – called budget performances and then look at what is being presented for 2017.

My brief today is not a lesson on budget processes but to look at one sector that will be a beneficiary of the 2017 Appropriation Bill. My take is to look at the Sport Sector’s budgetary allocation and the key highlights that can galvanize this sector to play its expected role as an important component for national development. Taking a cue from other Countries both developed and developing, one will still find the development role of government in Sport funding. Even though one expects Sport to be private Sector driven, the role of government cannot be overlooked. Let's take for example, the UK, where Sport has been practiced for decades if not centuries, the UK government still inject public funds to finance sporting activities. An example is the fact that to fund the English FA Cup competition alone annually, the UK government through the Sport Ministry doles out a whopping sum of £43m. If one converts this amount in Naira terms, one will be dumbfounded. Emphasis here is that the amount is just to support the organization of a single championship. We may not have the figures for other interventions to sport in the UK, but this example is sufficient to buttress the attention of government even in very developed Nations to fund sport.

Another example is the Brazilian government who one can call a developing economy. Despite the economic recession facing Brazil years back, the government budgeted money in Millions of dollars to host the World Cup in 2014. And not done with that, the city of Rio also financed the 2016 Olympic Games.
The clear reasons are to demonstrate the role of Sport as an economic turnaround mechanism and a money spinner to government and the people. Little wonder Brazil has after the two sporting events bounced back from economic recession.

In Nigeria, there are similarities with the Brasilia example; we are not only in recession but looking up to sport to be an elixir to turning our Country around and burying our present economic recession and I think the best way of doing this is to encourage government to direct massive funds allocations to the Sporting Sector starting from this year. Looking at the general overview of sectored allocations in this year’s budget proposal it is sad to observe that the Sporting Sector is having its worst appropriation over ages. A proposed budget of N7.7 billion to the Ministry of Sport and Youth Development must be condemned, particularly when the proposed budget of N7.2trillion is the highest in recorded history. Over the years I have monitored the financial allocations to this Sector, no year has ever compared to 2017. Consistently over the years the total allocation to sport has gyrated between N7 billion to N9 billion Naira. Thus having this kind of figure in 2017 is making a mockery of Sport development. Bad enough Sport Ministry now has the Youth Development attached, and hence the need to cry for our beloved Sport Sector. If you must share this allocation with the Youth Development Sector then the Sport Sector has less than N4.0 billion to develop Sport in a whole year! Sad enough is the sum allocated to “Sporting Activities”, where in the time past an average amount of N3 billion used to be made available. Now this amount has been cut down to a paltry sum of N1.7 billion Naira, too little to run this item in a given year.

I expected this amount to be reviewed upwardly to enable Sport Federations to be properly funded in preparation for competitions outside our shores. One also thought that since the National Sport Festival has failed to be hosted by any particular State of the Federation, in the last three years, the Ministry using its sporting activities vote should have used same to arrange the event in Abuja. As it seems now the paltry allocated sum for sporting activities cannot help this sector to do anything. The amount may end up in the belly of big fishes thus denying our youth the opportunity to complete, excel and find a bearing.

As you can see from this analogy, this is why we have so much youth restiveness as young people who should either be active on the field of play or evening watching their celebrated athletes are out there thinking on how they will be active criminally.

Due to our estimated life expectancy ratio here in Nigeria, young people constitute more to our population. Therefore, if this government is serious, it is imperative that they should concentrate on giving the youth and their sporting activities more funding than allocating resources to support the interest of a few who pocket our money and deprive younger people of their God-given opportunities.

God, nature, life, time will NOT take any excuse from any politician for not using his head because it takes lesser amount to tame a young mind than to tame crime. Let’s stop buying more guns to curb crime, let’s spend on the young people.

#awaywithOLDideas
-Uche Godson Okezueh