Few days to the end of the just concluded 22nd National Sports Festival, tagged 2024 Gateway Games, a colleague who is also a good friend of mine in person of Coach Uni Dan Kakwi, wrote a piece titled “Poor Performance of Northern States in Sports Festival: A wakeup call for Shehu Dikko led NSC”.
Irked and frustrated with the poor performance of our northern teams in Nigeria’s most followership and most gathered sports events, Dan Kakwi argued that the consistently poor performance of northern states in National Sports Festivals particularly in Ogun state, should not be disregarded.
“It is a glaring issue that demands urgent attention from the Shehu Dikko-led National Sports Commission (NSC),” he opined.
He expressed sadness that the poor results of sporting events by the northern teams raise major questions about the degree of enthusiasm, funding, and strategic development of sports in northern Nigeria, an area blessed with a large population and youthful demography.
“Why are states with such human potential failing to compete effectively in sports?” he queried.
His answer to above questions lies in a number of long-standing structural problems, such as a lack of facilities for sports, low funding for school athletics, subpar methods for identifying talent, and a general lack of incentives and rewards for young athletes.
Coach Uni Dan Kakwi went on to say that interest in sports, especially among young people, is declining in the absence of adequate facilities, qualified coaches, or organized competitions.
He added that the NSC’s goal to revolutionize Nigerian sports and guarantee national parity in participation and performance may remain a pipe dream if these structural problems are not resolved.
“Sports not only serve as a tool for national unity and youth development, but also offer economic opportunities and international recognition,” he stated.
It is therefore crucial according to him for the NSC to initiate deliberate policies targeted at reviving sports in the North starting from grassroots development, revitalizing school sports, building and maintaining facilities, and creating a functional reward system to incentivize participation.
“The future of Nigerian sports depends on inclusivity and balanced regional development. The north should not be left behind. The NSC must act decisively to stimulate interest and growth in sports across these regions, ensuring that the entire nation contributes to and benefits from the power of sports,” he concluded.
Honestly, I am really elated with Coach Uni Dan Kakwi remarks and position on the failure of our northern teams in national sports notably National Sports Festivals.
I also agreed with his position on practically every issue he presented regarding the northern states’ poor performance in the national meet, but disagreed with him on one point.
He made an excellent comment, but my only problem with him is his request that the NSC act decisively to generate interest and growth in sports throughout the area, ensuring that the entire nation contributes to and benefits from the power of sports.
To me, I don’t believe the NSC or national body can do anything to improve the situation because neither NSC nor Federal Sports Ministry has any role to play in that regards.
The roles and responsibilities of the organizers of the National Sports Festival (National Sports Commission) are clearly defined. Thus, NSC is only concerned with the followings:-
1. Planning and Coordination: Is NSC’s number one duty which will see them developing the master schedule, technical guidelines, and regulations for the games.
The NSC together with the host state Ogun State Government and Local Organizing Committee (LOC) to manage venues, events, and infrastructure.
2. Zonal Elimination Supervision: NSC is also responsible of overseeing all zonal elimination events across Nigeria to determine qualified teams in collective sports.
3. Technical Oversight: It is the duty of NSC to deployed certified referees, technical delegates, and data officers for fair competition. NSC also provides standard rules and equipment guidelines in line with international federations.
4. Funding and Resource Mobilization: It is also the NSC’s role to secure federal funding and endorsements. They are to liaised with corporate sponsors, media partners, and international stakeholders.
5. Torch of Unity & National Unity Promotion: It is also the duty of the NSC to flag off the Torch of Unity from the State House (Abuja), symbolizing peace and national integration. They also ensures the torch tour reached all 36 states and the FCT to boost participation and awareness.
6. Anti-Doping and Medical Support: The NSC also partnered with NADCAN (National Anti-Doping Committee of Nigeria) to conduct drug tests. They ensured medical personnel and first responders were stationed at all venues.
7. Media and Documentation: The National Sports Commission also facilitates live coverage, updates, and digital promotion of the festival. It is their duty to documents data, results, and records for official NSF archives and evaluation.
From the above, my good friend Coach Uni Dan Kakwi will understand that NSC is already tied with multiple tasks.
And the states and FCT Abuja also have their roles and responsibilities different from those of the NSC. The states and FCT Abuja are responsible for the followings:-
1. Athlete Identification and Selection: They are expected to conduct trials, camps, and qualifiers to select the best athletes for various sports in their respective states. They also ensured that selected athletes met eligibility criteria (age, residency, and registration).
2. Training and Preparation: The states and the FCT are to organized pre-festival training camps and coaching clinics. They are to provide technical staff, physiotherapists, and sport psychologists for athlete readiness.
3. Logistics and Team Management: the states and the FCT are expected to arranged travel, accommodation, feeding, and team welfare throughout the competition. They appointed team managers and state sports coordinators to supervise their contingents.
4. Funding and Sponsorship: They budgeted and released funds for athlete preparation and participation. They mostly partnered with state-level sponsors or NGOs to supplement funding.
5. State Representation and Branding: These promotes state identity through official kits, team flags, and mascots. As they organized media campaigns to boost morale and celebrate performances.
6. Security and Discipline: States and FCT ensured athletes and officials adhered to NSF rules and code of conduct. They maintained internal disciplinary mechanisms to handle infractions.
With the above stated roles of both the NSC and states including FCT Abuja, there are also other roles which we called Joint Roles of both (Organizers + States/FCT).
Opening and Closing Ceremonies are the duties of both: The participating states and FCT displayed their cultural heritage in a parade and award presentations.
Monitoring and Evaluation: They both contributed to post-event reviews to assess performance, logistics, and planning quality.
Talent Development: They used the NSF as a scouting platform to identify athletes for national teams and international events.
Performance Overview: Historically, northern states have secured fewer medals compared to their southern counterparts. For instance, in the previous edition, states like Kano and Kaduna had modest medal counts.
Resource Constraints: Limited access to training facilities and funding are the key factors that are affecting the preparation and performance of athletes from several northern states.
Challenges and Problems
1. Infrastructure Deficits: Many northern states lack adequate sports facilities, hindering athlete development and preparation.
2. Funding Limitations: Insufficient financial support for sports programs affected training, equipment procurement, and participation in preparatory competitions.
3. Talent Drain: Promising athletes often migrate to better-resourced states, leading to a depletion of local talent pools.
4. Administrative Hurdles: Bureaucratic delays and lack of strategic planning impeded effective sports program implementation in some states.
Achievements: Despite the above mentioned challenges, the consistent involvement of most northern states in the NSF indicates a growing commitment to sports development.
Youth Engagement: The festival inspired increased youth participation in sports, promoting healthy lifestyles and community engagement.
Therefore for northern teams to perform better in the subsequent National Sports Festivals, I recommend the followings:-
1. Infrastructure Development: Northern states must henceforth invest in building and upgrading sports facilities to provide athletes with adequate training environments.
2. Enhanced Funding: States governors must allocate dedicated budgets for sports development, ensuring timely disbursement and accountability.
3. Talent Retention Programs: States Sports Councils or Commissions must implement initiatives to identify, nurture, and retain local talent within their states.
4. Capacity Building: They should train and employ qualified coaches and sports administrators to improve program delivery and athlete performance.
5. Public-Private Partnerships: States must encourage collaborations with private sector stakeholders to supplement funding and expertise in sports development.
By addressing these difficulties and following the offered solutions, the northern states and the FCT can improve their performance in future editions of the National Sports Festival, thereby contributing to Nigeria’s overall sporting progress.
As a result, the governors of the various northern states are the best persons to take the necessary steps to salvage the situation; thus, in my opinion, the NSC plays no role in this regard.
I do not believe things will improve for many years to come unless we have state governors that are either former athletes or have a vested interest in the growth of sports before supporting them.
This is because the bulk of our northern state governors are uninformed of the importance of sports and their role in national development.
Until we have those who understand the importance of sports to their people and state in the political life of our northern states, they will never see a reason to invest millions or billions of dollars in infrastructure, let alone release another large sum of money for competition, training, and recruitment.
For the majority of us, the fact that our northern states have failed to produce any notable results indicates that we are unconcerned about the growth of sports in our states, which explains our backwardness and the reason why banditry, insurgency, and other vices thrive in the region.
This is because young people are easily coerced into participating in harmful activities because the sports that should keep them occupied are discounted in the majority of our northern states.
It is unfortunate that the last nine lowest-ranking states on the medals table are all northern states, indicating our lack of commitment to regional athletic development. That’s disappointing.
It is also unfortunate that most northern state governors are reticent to invest millions or billions of dollars on sports development in their states because they believe sports are a waste of time and resources.
Remember that Bayelsa state governor, Senator Douye Diri, announced a sports budget of approximately N37 billion, although the entire north has never budgeted even a fourth of that amount.
According to the Gateway Games finals medals tally, Delta state alone had more medals than all 17 competing northern states combined. Such a shame.
It is regrettable that the three South-Southern states, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Edo, gained 720 medals, more than double or almost triple the 255 medals obtained by the whole northern region.
To me, the only thing Shehu Dikko’s NSC can do in this regard is visit these states and implore their respective governors to take sports seriously, asks them to see reason and develop and promote sports in their states.
The NSC will only advise these governors to focus on sports and watch how their young people would renounce banditry and informership in favour of pursuing careers in sports.