The sports sector is one that has recorded more inconsistency in development. Looking back after 59 years of independence Nigerian sports have known very little development.
Chief Adegboyega Onigbinde, said sports stopped developing since 1993 in Nigeria. He is a sports teacher, a games master, a coach of many big clubs in Nigeria, a two-time manager of the Nigerian national team, a member of the technical Committees and Technical working groups of CAF and FIFA.
This coming from him with his influence and impact in the sports sector of the country, we have no choice but to believe.
How It Happened
The collapse of Nigerian sports can be traced to the involvement of government in the affairs of sports in the nation. Some ugly circumstances have happened to the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the merging of sports to other civil service ministries gave room for many wrong things to happen.
Sports ministry was merged with the ministry of information in early 1991 to become one. The beneficiary of the merger and the new office was an academician who has no ground or knowledge in the sports. He was given the responsibility to run the most powerful and complex sports association in Nigeria, the NFA. He was made the sole administrator.
The Turning Point in Nigerian Sports
This became the turning point for Nigerian sports development. This gave sports In Nigeria a different direction which was not in the original direction. Our sport has lost focus already and so since then it has been patching to cover up the errors already made from the beginning.
Nigeria witnessed its greatest sports achievements in sports competitions in 1993. Ironically, those achievements were a product of the two previous decades of a planned sports development program. The effects made between 1960 and 1992 yielded much impact. It continued until 2000 because there were no more investment results stops coming.
Nigeria’s Greatest Sports Moments
On the anniversary of our 59th Independence Day, EverySport will be looking at the various sports in Nigeria and what we have achieved and lost so far since 1960.
Boxing
Boxing is a sport that brought a lot of glory to Nigeria before and after Independence. The most notable pre-independence achievement was by Hogan ‘Kid’ Bassey who won the World Featherweight boxing championship fight in Liverpool in 1957. After Independence, in 1963, Nigerian, Dick Tiger, fought best America’s Gene Fulmer to the World Middleweight boxing championship.
Davidson Andeh became the first and only Nigerian to win the World Amateur Lightweight boxing championship fight against a Russian opponent in 1979 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He won, rather foolishly, in a fight he was not mentally and physically prepared for. His achievement, however, is unprecedented in Nigeria’s boxing history.
Track And Field Athletics
Nigeria has made tremendous results in the Track and Field athletics. We have shown great potentials who competed with other great potentials in the world. Nigeria has international records at the highest levels but there have only been two moments of epic performance. They were at the Olympics of 1996 and 2000. The quarter-mile relay quartet at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. The Nigerians participated and came second.
Sunday Bada, Jude Monye, Clement Chukwu and Enefiok Udo Obong. 12 years later, the Silver medals were converted to Gold on merit when one of the runners in the American winning team was disqualified for a failed dope tests. The other event and moment were when Chioma Ajunwa unexpected won the 7.12 meters first position at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Another name to remember in the field and track event is Blessing Okagbare, she is no doubt the most decorated African athlete. Below are the records of her achievements for the country (Nigeria).
Olympic Games 2008
She won the Silver medal in the long jump
World Championship 2013 Russia Moscow
She won one Silver medal in the long jump, Okagbare also won Bronze in the 200m race.
Continental Cup 2010
Bronze in the 100m split race.
IAAF World Relay Nassau 2015
Gold in the 4X100 relay race
All African Games 2007 (Algiers) 2011 (Maputo) and 2015(Brazzaville)
Silver in the long jump
Gold in the long jump and 4X100m Relay Race (Maputo 2011)
Gold in the 4X100 Relay race
Common Wealth Games Glasgow(2014) and Gold Coast (2018)
Gold in both 100m and 200m race and then, Silver in the 4X100m race
Gold Coast 2018- Bronze in 4X100m race
African Championship Nairobi (2010), Benin(2012), Marrakesh(2014), and Asaba(2018)
Nairobi (2010) Blessing Okagbare won 3 Gold medals in the outing. She won them in 100m race, long jump and 4X100m race.
Benin (2012) Silver in 100m
Marrakesh (2014). 2 Gold medals from 100m race and 4X100 relay
Asaba (2018) Gold in 4X100 relay.
Blessing Okagbare won a total of 12 Gold, 6 Silver, and 3 Bronze medals.
Football (Soccer)
Nigeria has recorded massive achievements in this aspect. The country won the youth Under-17 FIFA championships five times. Unfortunately, not everyone would be enthusiastic about celebrating those moments in 1985, 1993, 2007, 2013 and 2015. The only achievement of the Dream Team is the Atlanta 1996 that earns football a place amongst the greatest moments in Nigerian sports history. Nigeria has also won the AFCON Nations Cup three times.
After 59 Years Still Far Behind in Sports
With all the glorious tale of Nigerian football, we cannot still say we are making headway. Because the players that gave us the achievements are not bred on our home soil. Nigeria focuses more on using the players outside and forget about the home–based players and the home–based leagues. There have been cases of corruption, interference by the government which is against FIFA rules and regulations. Nonpayment of players and coaching crew.
Presently Nigerian clubs cannot stand with their fellow African clubs in comparison. This is reflected in our performance in the CAF tournament. It shows poor preparation and re-enforcement from the part of the government. Last season there was a case of unplanned schedule in the league which made the NPFL relegate more than the expected three teams.
NPFL presently is on hold while almost every league in the world has played at least six games in the new season ours is still struggling to start. This has rendered all the players and coaching crew temporally unemployed. With all this, we can say over 800 players are unemployed simply because the chairman of the NPFL is been investigated.
Its been 59 years down the line and yet we seem not making any headway in the improvement and development of sports in our country, Nigeria. The issue of mismanagement of funds can be traced to the appointment of people who have little or no knowledge about sports. We claim to be independent yet we are still very dependent even though we have all that will help us build a viable and sport sector.
We can only be truly liberated if we take charge of our issues and deal with them appropriately. Nigeria is still in bondage.
