In about 72 hours from now, Nigeria will celebrate its 59th independence anniversary. The country is now 59 years old. It means it’s 59 years that the country extricated itself from British colonial rule.
Expectedly, the celebration, which started yesterday with Jumat service and on Sunday, worship, praise singing in churches across the country, will involve clicking of glasses, back slapping and even hugging in some instances. There will be congratulatory messages from friendly nations wishing the country more prosperous years ahead.
The real celebration will be on Tuesday, when a national holiday will be observed across the country, its annual ritual, you would say. President Muhammadu Buhari alongside elected National Assembly members and the 36 state governors and the state assembly members will mark the day that the colonial master’s flag was lowered 59 years ago at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos with relish, pump and pageantry and possibly ending it with a dinner in Aso Rock. Politicians would not be left out, so also business moguls.
This column is about sport. So I will concern myself with how sport has fared since 1960.
That sport has grown in the country is a fact that cannot be denied, but it has not developed. This is the gospel truth. To the discerning minds, sport has only grown in Nigeria, but has not developed because the indices that should sustain the growth are absent.
In other words, the planks that sustain growth are absent. Hence success in sport cannot be predicted, it is haphazard, it comes when least expected. And this success is not a product of a well thought out programmes, designed to achieve a set target. Success to a great extent is a product of Nigerians’ ‘never say die attitude’. The talented Nigerian athletes want to succeed at all cost so as to escape poverty. It is a function of his or her will to succeed and not that there is a system in place that avails the athletes the opportunity needed to go through a well-designed programme that will not only unearth the talents but nurture him or her to stardom.
And the absence of these developmental structures is responsible for the country’s failure to achieve its potentials in sport, despite not lacking in talents. It is the absence of these developmental structures that is responsible for the exodus of our athletes to Europe and America where they are availed the opportunity of horning their talents, and becoming superstars in a short time.
The country’s participation in international championships after independence in 1960 was aimed at understudying developed countries that have attained success in sports, with the view to understanding the parameters needed to succeed.
In the decades that followed, sports facilities were built across the country. National Stadium Lagos, Liberty stadium Ibadan, Nnamdi Azikwe Stadium, Enugu and ABU Stadium, Kaduna were constructed.
There was a deliberate policy to train technical officials by sending them for refresher courses all the time. The policy also included sending athletes to American Universities on scholarship where they could horn their talents and also be educated. The policy produced the likes of Chidi Imoh, Innocent Egbunike, the Ezinwa bothers of Osmond and Davidson, Henry Amike, late Olukayode Oluyemi, Olopade Adeniken, Sunday Uti, Moses Ugbesien and Rotimi Peters. The likes of Mary Onyali, Beatrice Utondu, Falilat Ogunkoya, Fatima Yusuf, Faith Idehen, and Christy Opara-Thompson were also beneficiaries of this policy.
And no wonder the country started pulling its weight in both continental and global events in the decades that followed. In the 70s Super Eagles won bronze at the 1976 Nations Cup in Morocco and also in Ghana in 1978. In 1976 Shooting Stars won the African Cup of Winners while Rangers retained the trophy the following year.
The country has taken part in all the 12 editions of the African Games winning it once as host in 2003, placing second six times (’65, ’73, ’78, ’99, 2015 and 2019), third four times (’87, ’91, ’95, 2011) and fourth once in 2004.
In football, the country has won the Africa Cup of Nations thrice (1980, 1994 and 2013). It also won Olympics football gold. It qualified for its ever FIFA World Cup in 1994 reaching the second round. It has qualified for the World Cup since safe the 2006 edition in Germany. Its best outing was a second round in 194 and 2014.
Though the country won its first Olympics medal at the Los Angeles Games in 1984 winning the Games 4x400m men bronze in 2:59.32, an African record that stood for 16 years, its first gold was at the Atlanta Olympics in track and field before winning the second at the same Games in football. The third gold was at the Sydney games when it was awarded the 4x400m men gold by default. It has also won 10 silver and 12 bronze, total 25 medals.
The 80s also witnessed Nigerian professional boxers making hay, dominating the continent. The Eddy Ndukwus, Dele Jonathan, Obisia Nwakpa, Jerry Okorodudu and host of others wrote the country’s name in gold. The country is a powerhouse in table tennis, wrestling, weightlifting in the continent but has failed woefully in tennis, volleyball and handball.
The country made its foray into African basketball scene in the 90s. It has won the women’s Nations Cup four times (2003, 2005, 2017 and 2019) and the men version once in 2015. Nigeria’s first Olympics participation was in 2012 and has qualified for the men’s basketball event since. The women’s first qualification was at the 2004 Games in Greece.
These achievements enumerated above will pail into insignificance if talents in the country are not harnessed and nurtured. The truth is that as a country we cannot continue to behave like a baby all these years so what are we celebrating, failure or mediocrity?
The truth is that the country lacks direction as far as sport is concerned. We should ask ourselves what we want to achieve with sports. As it is, it is treated as a recreational activity. And until we realise that sport is a multibillion dollar business concern and which has the capacity to create wealth for our teeming youths and will take millions of them off the streets, we will continue to grope in the dark. We will continue to fight crime and will not succeed.Indeed, if we want to fight crime among our youths, let’s develop our sports.
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