By Ernest Osogbue
It’s as if the Sportswriters Association of Nigeria SWAN, an association of sports journalists in Nigeria, which seemingly have been slumbering, have finally woken up. In a press statement issued by the national secretariat of the association, the body frowned at the illegal operations of the National Sports Commission NSC, as a two man body for almost one year since the appointment of Shehu Dikko and Bukola Olopade as Chairman and Director General respectively.
According to SWAN, this undermines transparency and accountability and is contrary to the NSC establishment Act 2023, which recognizes a 17-man management board.
For years now, SWAN and its members have pandered to the whims and caprices of sports administrators to the detriment of its statutory role in sports development in Nigeria. Possibly, due to poverty and integrity issues, rather than hold sports administrators accountable, SWAN, and its members have pandered to them, and befriended them, probably, in the hope of grabbing crumbs from the table of the administrators. It is therefore commendable to see that the scales have finally fallen from the eyes of SWAN and its members.
The press statement from the SWAN national secretariat is in tandem with the resolutions reached at a recent congress held by the FCT chapter of the association, where the shabby treatment usually meted to sportswriters by sports administrators was high on the agenda. In a unanimous resolution, members of the FCT SWAN led by the Chairman, Kelechi Onwudiwe, resolved to no longer play second fiddle to sports administrators. They equally resolved to ensure that the relationship between members of the association and sports federations must be on the basis of equals, mutual respect, and as partners in the development of sports in Nigeria.
In the statement issued by the SWAN national secretary, Ikenna Okonkwo, on behalf of the SWAN national president, Isaiah Benjamin, the association urged sports stakeholders and President Bola Tinubu, to look beyond the recent laurels won by the national women football team, the Super Falcons, and the national women basketball team, the D’Tigress, as these victories merely papared over the cracks within the different federations. According to SWAN, there are ongoing litigations involving the Nigeria Football Federation NFF, and governance issues leading to the defection of several athletes involving the Athletics Federation of Nigeria AFN, least of which is the recent defection of Favor Ofili, Nigeria’s medal hope in the women 100m to Turkiye.
Beneath the surface of peace and tranquility in other federations, there are internal rumblings and grumblings. According to SWAN, these are pointers to the fact that all is not well within the Nigerian sports fraternity. It is therefore imperative to constitute the management board of the NSC, to enable those with knowledge and relevant experience to manage and resolve these silent rumblings with a view to ensuring that Nigerian sports cruises on an even keel.
SWAN, therefore, urged the leadership of the NSC to obey the law and bring about the constitution of the management board as soon as possible in order not to allow illegality derail the efforts of Nigerian sportsmen and women who give their all in a bid to win laurels and bring honor to our great nation.
