Before Dalung And NFF Bury the Sportiveness in Nigeria -By Micheal A. Adeniyi

Minister of Youths and Sports, Solomon Dalung

When someone asks, “Why can’t Nigerian athletes pursue sports with staggering spirits? They do well outside National representation, Why can’t they be like the Jamaicans, Argentines in competitions? Why can’t they achieve more than their neighbours?”People respond in many different ways hurling scores of disgruntled ripostes and most of them opine that Nigeria is an emerging global power. How sycophants we are! Our teams are not happy, they are not being paid, unprofitable charity? God forbid they bade, The sport Minister Solomon Dalung said “we didn’t know our team will win” just to justify why the Super Falcons were not paid after winning the Just concluded AFCON, So murky and disgusting is the statement, an I-dont-care scenario that it is beyond my imagination. Nigeria always wrestles with socio-cultural schizophrenia alienating a large chunk of people and depriving them of their due rights. They face the same treatment daily in the sports and since last year sportmen would have to protest to the presidency before receiving any incentive. It so happens that innumerable brilliant and promising sports personnel emerge from the abyss of socio-cultural and economic alienation but the social cruelty and apathy shatters their hope soon as they march forward. Our sportmen would definitely have out shone all others, if they had better ambience and privileges like many of their counterparts.

Nevertheless our teams will go to international events and still bring innumerable medals including gold multiple times lifting the zeitgeists of the nation.

Almost all, our talented sport personalities have emerged from the abyss of socio-cultural dehumanization and corrupt inhuman systems that always have crippled them to excel in Nigeria. Unpaid salaries and bonuses is the major factor of our dismal performance in international sport events? Why does Ghana our neighbor outperform us and compete with the other nations?

What are our lacunae? Do we ever regret when we lose in the international events? Innumerable times we have been humiliated in all kinds of athletics. What was our medal tally in the last Olympic. Where were China and other European Countries? Let the ruling class of Nigerian Football Federation and the sport ministry be repentant of its sin. Sports reflect a country’s integration, unity and oneness. Sports need to be above religion and race and unpaid incentives. Stop killing sportive motive, sportiveness is what Nigeria needs.

Please Don’t Bury Our Sportiveness

@9jaclicktivist