Alarmed by the dwindling fortune of sports in the country, former Green Eagles winger, Felix Owolabi has tasked the federal government to revisit the defunct national sports commission.
In an exclusive Interview with Roving Naija recently, the member of 1980 Nations victorious Green Eagles stated clearly that sports in the country began to nosedive when NSC was politicized and later scrapped by the Federal government.
The former IICC winger attributed Nigeria’s successful stories in sports to the existence and vibrancy of the National Sports Commission (NSC) technocrats who are bent on developing sports and placed the country’s collective goals above personal gains.
He then bemoaned the country’s failure to put the right machinery in place to help organize competition aimed at discovering raw talents in all nooks and crannies of the country.
“Nigeria sports began to suffer when we began to politicize every sports position while we neglect the appointment of sports technocrats who are ready to give their selfless service in sports development.
“It was an error to scrap National Sports Commission because it’s the responsibility of the body to help manage sports in the country. If you look back, you will see clearly that Nigeria’s success in sport was simply because of those technocrats who were ready to serve the country.
“They saddled every state government with the need to develop sports by organising competitions both in the grassroots and Secondary schools. Talents discovered in states are then tested in national sports festivals after which the best among them will be picked. We don’t see that anymore.
“Talk of Alhaji Dankaro, Orok Oyo Orok, Tony Ikazobor, and many of them. These are technocrats who gave their best to develop sports in the country. It is sad we don’t have that today because we have brought politics into every sport.” he said.
It would be recalled that Alhassan Yakmut served as the last Director-General of NSC until it was scrapped by Muhammadu Buhari government in 2015.
The National Sports Commission was the nation’s apex body responsible for regulating sports in the country.
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