Nigeria’s sports minister, John Owan Enoh has blamed officials of the country’s sporting federations for the nation’s dismal performance at the recent Olympic Games in Paris, France.
Enoh admitted it was a sorrowful setback that no medal was garnered, in spite of a fatter budget allocation this year than what Team Nigeria got for Tokyo 2020 and returned with two medals.
Although Enoh revealed that this year’s budget of N12bn was combined for the Olympics and Paralympics, while inflation also shot up the bill, he reasoned that getting two medals in Tokyo with N2bn is a far better story than what occurred at Paris 2024.
While also slamming the Nigeria Olympics Committee (NOC) for failing to be proactive in their preparations for the Games, Senator Enoh accused presidents of the sports federations of misleading him about what they had on offer going to Paris 2024.
He made the sweeping comments during a long and heated interview on Channels Television’s award winning programme, Politics Today, which was monitored in Lagos by sports247.ng and the various cogent points highlighted.
However, despite faulting federation top shots for allegedly creating a very wrong perception about their readiness for the Olympics, Enoh began by taking responsibility for Nigeria’s fiasco in France.
“It’s sad, very sad,” the former Senator began, “but my letter has already revealed that I take full responsibility. It was totally unexpected.
“As a country, I understand the sadness and the anger. People who know me from my native Cross River will imagine how I feel, because I always like to win.
“I work hard to win, and that’s why I am very sad that I didn’t win this time. Not that I didn’t work hard. I did everything I should do, and I didn’t see this coming at all.
“It’s those same giants of ours that went to the African Games, and we came second. Those same giants were present at the Olympics.
“Not that I thought they were going to overwhelm the world, but I didn’t expect that we would come back from the Paris Olympics without at least one medal.”
Enoh revealed further that he tried the best he could in getting details of programmes outlined by each sports federation, and he concluded that all was well, based on the assurances that they repeatedly gave him.
The minister added, “That brings me to the structure of sports management and administration in our country. I’ve had sessions with the sporting federations, but there are restrictions.
“As minister of sports development, you do not directly train the athletes, you do not directly monitor them. I mean, those are the responsibilities of the different sports federations.
“Once you get appointed as minister, you have many agencies that are there to take care of various areas, but you never imagine that these people are not good enough.
“You then want to recommend some changes and all of that.
“However, the minister of sports development doesn’t have such luxury because you have leaders of sporting federations, close to 40, elected in their congresses. They have immediate and direct responsibilities.
“I had technical sessions with the different Olympic sports, about 12 of them. We got briefings, and that is the only way you can get involved.
“I asked questions, took briefing after briefing. I sat there and asked the president of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria, ‘What’s your medals projection, what’s the basis of your projection?’
“They give me their plans, and I go through. So, your expectations become governed by what the leaders of the federations have told you.
“It is the federations that select the athletes who they think are capable of winning medals. The federations are very strong in the defence of what decisions they have made.”
The articulate member of the federal cabinet then took a swipe at the globally sanctioned privilege of non-interference enjoyed by sports federations, which he pointed out limits the oversight function of government officials.
Enoh moaned further, “There’s a word called interference, which we have to watch out for.
“These federations guard what they do so jealously; such that any attempt by the minister to reach out and take a decision is considered as interference.”
He then reiterated his apology to sports lovers and the country as a whole, but admitted it is like medicine after death.
“There’s nothing I will say that will take away the pain that Nigeria doesn’t have a medal. But I owe Nigerians an explanation.
“I didn’t wait for anybody to tell me before I issued a statement with a public apology.
“We had a total of N12bn for both the Olympics and Paralympics. It was what we budgeted, and we got it, but we returned without a medal,” the minister lamented.
Enoh continued by highlighting other misnomers, which he noted also caused hitches in Team Nigeria’s quest for medals at Paris 2024.
“As a country, what I find us doing in sports is that we fund competitions but we do not fund training and preparations for competitions.
“When I became minister, I found nothing on ground for the Olympics. They know that they have to prepare for four years, but they did not do it.
“I had to summon a meeting to find out from them. Yet preparation for the next one is meant to start immediately this Olympics ends,” Enoh stressed.
He then concluded with a cautious response to the possibility of heads rolling on account of the disaster that Paris 2024 turned out to be, but admitted that a scrutiny and enquiry of the development is needed. did not do it.
“I had to summon a meeting to find out from them. Yet preparation for the next one is meant to start immediately this Olympics ends,” Enoh stressed.
He then concluded with a cautious response to the possibility of heads rolling on account of the disaster that Paris 2024 turned out to be, but admitted that a scrutiny and enquiry of the development is needed.
