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T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2016
EDITORIAL BEYOND THE SHAME IN RIO
Sponsorship of sports is increasingly becoming a burden to government. It could be lightened by the private sector
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igeria’s 78th position on the medal log at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil, highlighted the dire state of sports in the country. A solitary bronze medal won by the football team has failed to douse public anger and call for a proper inquest from an outing considered a national embarrassment. It appears Nigeria has not learnt any lesson in sports administration in the past four years, following the shambolic performance at the London Games where the contingent drew blank and returned home without a single medal. With Kenya leading the African pack with six gold medals, followed by South Africa, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Egypt and Niger Republic, Nigeria only wobbled to the finishing line courtesy of football, a day before the curtains were drawn on Rio 2016, to salvage its only Olympic medal. But it was expected. It has become a permanent part of our national culture to begin preparing for international sporting engagements just on the eve of the event. It is surprising that we sometimes end up winning laurels in spite WE NEED TO IDENTIFY of our tardiness. A VIABLE SOURCE OF However, our over SPONSORSHIP, MOSTLY reliance on government PRIVATE SECTOR initiatives alone to get COMPANIES AND us to the top of internaLITERALLY HAND OVER tional sports is part of THE ADVERTISING RIGHTS, the problem. A critical LOGISTICS, ETC., OF appraisal of the tardy SUBSEQUENT OLYMPIC performance will reveal PREPARATIONS AND one of the underlying PARTICIPATION TO THEM causes behind the horrible outing in Rio was poor funding of sports. Therefore, it does not matter if we start preparing for the Tokyo Olympics this week. For as long as we leave it to government sponsorship and organisation, we are not likely to get much better results than Rio. The example of the United Kingdom ought to be instructive. At the 1996 Atlanta games, the UK fared worse than
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even Ethiopia on the medals table. It was then in the same league with Nigeria which did remarkably well under the spirited leadership of the duo of Jim Nwobodo and the late Emeka Omeruah. But the British government under then Prime Minister John Major would not accept the poor performance and therefore sought ways of reforming the British Olympic movement. It identified funding and ‘ownership’ as key deterrents. For funds, the British government decided that the proceeds of the National Lottery would go into the country’s Olympic contingents thenceforth. Energised by the huge lottery money, the Olympic movement then tapped into other private sector sponsors for endorsements of individual athletes. With the money problem solved, the Olympic movement was now free to embark on endless training programmes, hiring the best coaches and trainers to prepare their team in the events and games where the country has comparative and competitive advantage. That accounted for Great Britain’s 67 medals haul in Rio! The United States’ model is more or less the same. It is the big corporations that fund and sponsor the team and individual athletes. The US government provides security, logistics and co-ordination as the glory of victory goes to the nation and its people. We must begin by reducing the dependence of our sports on the pomposity of some sports ministers and their officials. They tend to treat these games as extensions of their little egos which rub talented athletes and sports persons in the wrong place. We need to identify a viable source of sponsorship, mostly private sector companies and literally hand over the advertising rights, logistics, etc., of subsequent Olympic preparations and participation to them. Written into the deal should be some tax incentives as well. We should have Nigerian companies sponsoring different aspects of our participation: training, apparels, hospitality, air transportation, welfare, health insurance, etc. It is not only in football that we should always hunt for the best trainers. It is the representatives of these sponsors rather than officialdom that should accompany the athletes while government representation should be minimal to complement our embassy staff in the host country.
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ONDO: DEMOCRACY WILL TAKE ITS COURSE As the race for the Ondo governorship heats up, the signs are so clear that the All Progresives Congress is on course to achieve remarkable success in the November 27 election. This is evident, for instance, in the sheer number of aspirants that have expressed interest in flying the APC’s flag in the election. This is indicative, not only, of the immense goodwill our party enjoys in Ondo State but also the confidence the gubernatorial aspirants repose in the APC’s chances in the gubernatorial elections, particularly against the background of the abysmal performance of the Peoples Democratic Party- led administration in the last eight years. It is not unusual in the context of such intense competition for the ticket of a popular party like the APC, that there will be diverse allegations, insinuations and innuendoes as regards the transparency, impartiality and integrity of the intra-party process. This has always been the case in all party primaries in the country since 1999. But no one can doubt that the APC has always demonstrated its commitment to demonstrably credible intra-party primaries at all levels. This was evident in last year’s presidential primaries as well as the transparent intra-party polls to pick candidates in Kogi and Edo States for example. As the highest-ranking party leader from Ondo State, I strongly affirm that the Ondo APC governorship primaries will be no exception. The APC as a party is committed to a free, fair and
transparent process that will see the candidate with the most votes emerge as flag bearer. And from that moment on, the party, other contenders and the leadership will line up behind that flag bearer. To insinuate a contrary plan without any evidence is political mischief and we must be wary of those pushing this agenda to weaken the APC ahead of the governorship elections. The screening of all 24 candidates took place in a most transparent manner at the national headquarters in Abuja. Candidates have seen that they have been screened with no intention to disqualify anyone. Each candidate has a right to contest in the race. With the screening concluded, all that sailed through have the chance to campaign as hard as they want. Their concentration should shift to how they will become the choice of the electorate or become the candidate of choice by the electorate. All said and done, the people, in this case, the delegates will ultimately decide. The attempt to scapegoat the chairman of the party and a few other leaders is unnecessary distraction. The primary will be conducted by the national head quarters of the APC based on the constitution of the party and not the whims of any state party chairman. The delegates’ list is under lock and key. Any complaints can be channelled through me to the national headquarters. Those attacking and cursing and encouraging hooliganism are only working to weaken the party. They might even be agents of
destabilisation. For each of the aspirants, victory will only be delivered based on the number of people they are able to convince to vote for them and ultimately how they square against our political opponent, the PDP. Just like in other party primaries both within and even in the most advanced countries, influential party leaders throw their support behind aspirants they believe can best represent the party’s values and ethos as well as help achieve victory in the general election. In the ongoing electoral process in the United States, for instance, Hillary Clinton became her party’s candidate largely with the support of the Democratic Party establishment while Donald Trump emerged triumphant in the Republican Party because the party rank and file defied the preferences of the party establishment. The most important determinant of the emergence of a democratic party’s candidate, therefore, is the will of the majority of the accredited party delegates. It is certainly an unfair underestimation of the intellect and character of the people of Ondo State to insinuate that 3000 delegates will have no minds of their own and can be herded in a given direction through any form of ‘imposition’ or ‘endorsement’. Indeed, once the party principle of free and fair primaries is adhered to the last letter, terms like imposition and endorsement become irrelevant and diversionary. Chief Pius Akinyelure, Vice-Chairman, South West APC
TIME IS RUNNING OUT It is understandable that a nation at a point in time undergoes economic challenges, like Nigeria has experienced in times past. The emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari, gave Nigerians the hope that issues such as corruption, unemployment, among others, will be things of the past. Therefore, the hardship currently faced by Nigerians is becoming unbearable. Nigerians are wondering how long it will take to get relief from the frustration and pain that is shaking the country and begin to enjoy the promises made during electioneering campaign. Joshua Ozorji, ANEEJ, Benin