… as Sports Minister apologises to Nigerians after disappointing outing
… Brume vows to bounce back
Foremost Nigerian sports journalist and media manager, Dr. Mumini Alao has attributed the barren medal outing to inadequate funding and mismanagement.
In response to Sports Village Square enquiry, Alao remarked: “Nigerian sports is grossly underfunded which is a reflection of our poor economy. Unfortunately, even the little that is made available by government, is often mismanaged by selfish and corrupt sports administrators.
“Sports facilities are inadequate and poorly managed which affects talent discovery at grassroots. Welfare for our elite athletes is poor compared to most other countries that we compete against at the Olympics which leads some of best talents opting to represent other countries. There are several other factors.
“We need a complete reset. Government should scale up the implementation of its policy on promoting sports as business in order to attract private sector funding for sports facilities, training of coaches, grassroots talent discovery and management of elite athletes.
“Also, the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and many of the sports federations need a total shake up. Most of the administrators there have nothing more to offer.”
Similarly, former Nigerian sports minister, Solomon Dalung has said that the foundation of Team Nigeria was faulty ahead of the just-ending Olympic Games, Sports Village Square reports.
He faulted the composition of most of the sports federations that produced athletes for the games. According to him, the federations were not well composed to present athletes who would have excelled.
Dalung who was Nigeria’s Games Master-General from 2015 to 2019 said, “The federations must command the confidence of the congress. Unfortunately, the foundation I laid while I was in office had been dismantled.”
He is of the opinion that most of the sports federation leadership are not accountable to the congress that elected them.
However, Nigeria’s Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh, has issued a personal apology to Nigerians over the poor outing of Team Nigeria at the just-concluded 2024 Paris Olympics games where the nation failed to win any medal.
Nigeria officially concluded its participation in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France, without securing a single medal.
Apologising to Nigerians in a statement on Sunday, Enoh said the team had fallen short of expectations.
Hannah Reuben was the last hope for Nigeria on Saturday, competing in the women’s freestyle wrestling 76kg category. However, she was defeated 5-2 (victory by points) in her second-round match against Mongolia’s Davaanasan Amar Enkh.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu had approved ₦12bn for the country’s outing at the Olympics and the Paralympics. ₦9bn was earmarked for the former while ₦3bn was budgeted for the latter.
Despite the funding, Nigeria had ended the games without a medal.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s long jump star, Ese Brume has vowed to bounce back from the disappointment of her poor showing at the 2024 Olympic Games.
Brume was one of Nigeria’s medal hopefuls leading to Paris 2024 but failed to live up to expectations.
The 27-year-old won a bronze medal in the women’s long jump three years ago.
The Commonwealth champion, however, finished in fifth position this time around.
Brume confessed she was hampered by injury.
