BEVERLY HILLS, May 01, (THEWILL) – In the exercise of the statutory responsibility of the oversight functions of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development (FMYSD) over the sporting federations in the country, the Honourable Minister Sunday Dare, on Friday, ordered the dissolution of the boards of all 31 sporting federations.
The rationale behind the dissolution was in line with the Olympic Charter, which, the Minister clarified, stipulated a four-year tenure for all sports federations. To keep their activities running smoothly, the Minister simultaneously placed the affairs of all dissolved boards under caretaker committees set up to hold the forte until fresh elections.
It was the Minister’s aim to ensure compliance with standard stipulations as he said: “Having run a full Olympic cycle, the boards of the NSFs inaugurated on June 21, 2017, are hereby dissolved to pave way for fresh elections.”
While the dissolution will have taken some of the board members by surprise, Dare’s statement at the instance of dissolving the boards made it clear why it was a necessary step: “Following the provision of the Olympic Charter, the tenure of the national Olympic Sports Federations in Nigeria has come to an end. There is a need for a transition from the old boards to new ones.
“A few of the national sports federations’ boards performed remarkably well, while many others have been bogged down by unnecessary bickering and division among the board members.
“In order to ensure continuity in the administration of the federations, Caretaker Committees are hereby put in place to manage the affairs of the federations until elections are conducted and the new boards inaugurated.”
The Honourable Minister tasked the caretaker committees with enhancing Team Nigeria’s participation at the Tokyo Olympics Games in July, while promising to collaborate with the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), to map out the timetable for the fresh elections for the 31 boards.
He upbraided the observed lack of compliance of some federations with the request to submit relevant documents required for the organisation of the next elections: “In order to ensure transparency and accountability in the electoral process, the ministry requested all National Sports Federations to submit their constitutions. Regrettably, as of date, only seven federations have complied.”
In alphabetical order, these are the caretaker committee members of the different federations, as announced by Dare and given the responsibility to run the federations of their appointments until new elections are organised for the substantive boards.
The Aquatic Federation of Nigeria Caretaker Committee is headed by Babatunde Fatai Williams, Olumide George leads the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, Francis Orbih is in charge of Badminton Federation of Nigeria, Ahmadu Musa-Kida is at the helm of Nigerian Basketball Federation and Gen. Joseph Ayeni (retd) oversees the affairs of the Nigeria Boxing Federation.
Others include DIG Sani Sani Mohammed (Nigeria Chess Federation), Prof Yahaya Ukwanya (Nigeria Cricket Federation), G. Masari (Cycling Federation of Nigeria), Abubakar Gaya (Darts Federation of Nigeria), U. Nahuche (Nigeria Deaf Sports Federation), Abubakar Dangaladima (Fives Federation of Nigeria), Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Nigeria Golf Federation) and Kelvin Erhurnwunse (Gymnastics Federation of Nigeria).
The new Caretaker Committees also have Samuel Ochecho (Handball Federation of Nigeria), Senator Andul Ningi (Nigeria Hockey Federation), Brig Gen. Z. Abubakar (Nigeria Judo Federation), Sila Agara (Karate Federation of Nigeria), Yakubu Abubakar (Kickboxing Federation of Nigeria), Adewunmi Adekunle (Nigeria Wushu Kungfu Federation) and Rear Admiral Porbeni Festus (retd.) (Nigeria Rowing, Canoeing and Yatching Federation).
The rest are: Grace Iyorchia (Nigeria Rugby Federation), Suleman Gora (Nigeria Scrabble Federation), Maj-Gen Johnny Hamakim (Nigeria Shooting Federation), Oyerinde Adeboye (Nigeria Squash Federation), Tikon Ishayaku (Nigeria Table Tennis Federation), Margaret Binga (Nigeria Taekwondo Federation), Akindoju Olaoye (Nigeria Tennis Federation), Usman Musa (Traditional Sports Federation of Nigeria), Musa Nimrod (Nigeria Volleyball Federation), Tonobok Okowa (Nigeria Weightlifting Federation) and Daniel Igali (Nigeria Wrestling Federation).
However, coming so close to the Olympics, where a contingent of Nigerian sportsmen and women will be flying the country’s flag and representing Nigeria in sports events under these federations and boards, it would have been considered apropos to keep from rocking the boat and allowing these members of the federations to organise the Olympics participation of the country given how they have been involved until now.
THEWILL considers it inexpedient for the country’s sporting fortunes at the XXXII Olympiad to switch the boards only 84 days to the commencement of the postponed Tokyo Olympics and jeopardise the stability of the process from within, when the rest of the world is pushing for more stability and balance after the disruption to normalcy brought upon the world by the coronavirus pandemic.
No one could have fought the decision if the current boards ventured slightly beyond the four-year stipulation because 2020 cannot, in itself, be counted as a year of any notable occasion and a little extension to allow the boards sufficiently navigate the Olympics organisation and contingent successfully before informing them ahead of time and delivering on the dissolution of the boards.
If that was not an agreeable enough solution, then an alternative to that counsel on patience will be to have dissolved the federations far ahead of time, like December last year, or even earlier. This could have bought the caretaker committees of the different sporting federations ample time to get into the frame to adequately prepare themselves and their contingents for a successful showing in Tokyo.
However, this latter option could have been viciously fought by the members of the dissolved boards as it could have encroached too deeply into the exact end of their four-year terms. Some are already baying for a fight because the Ministry terminated their terms with about two to three months left, how much more if the gap was wider.
In all, the Minister may have prevailed, and it is commendable that he wants to stay true to the stipulated cycle but there are times when exceptions have to be made for expediency, which the pandemic absolutely called for, but it can be hoped that keeping with the provisions of the Olympics cycle will not be counterproductive for the contingent representing Nigeria in Tokyo when the events begin.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
