SportsNational Sports Festival: Time to Return to The Basics

National Sports Festival: Time to Return to The Basics

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BEVERLY HILLS, April 11, (THEWILL) – It has been non-stop thrills at the 20th edition of the National Sports Festival (NSF) tagged Edo2020, taking place at the Samuel Ogbemudia Studium, in Benin City.

From the very first day, records have fallen and stars have emerged to the limelight of reckoning in different categories. In the same vein, there have been moments that have stirred controversies, such as the fielding of heavily pregnant Amina Idrees who won gold in the Poomsae Taekwondo Event at the Games. Even at that, the Games can be seen to have provided concurrence with the position of the President Muhammadu Buhari.

The National Sports Festival almost came to an abrupt end on Thursday as the Edo State Government threatened to stop the fiesta over non-release of funds promised by the Federal Government.

Glo

On Tuesday, President Buhari had affirmed the unitive power of sports in festering unity in the country in his remarks at the opening ceremony and urged the athletes representing different states and picked from the pool of athletes available to give it their all so that they too can be be considered worthy to represent the nation at global sporting events as their forebears have so reverently done before them.

While declaring the Games open, the President traced the trajectory of the competition all the way back to its roots when he remarked that holding another edition of the Games was “indeed in consonant with the aspiration of our founding fathers such as General Yakubu Gowon, late Major General Henry Adebokwe, late Brigadier Samuel Ogbumudia and others who initiated and brought this event to the limelight.”

THEWILL considered it intriguing that by a stroke of good fortune, the 20th edition of the NSF hosted in an ultra modern stadium named after none other than Ogbemudia, one of the pioneering patrons of the whole idea of a national competition that will provide a basis for bonding, camaraderie, sportsmanship, friendship and ultimately convivial unity at a time when a varied set of divisive issues threaten the very fabric of national cohesion.

To more readily appreciate the significance of these two aspects of this specific 20th edition, that is the coincidence of the Games taking place in the venue named after Samuel Ogbemudia, on the one hand, and the objective of a united Nigeria that was at the ideation of a nationwide sports festival, and to highlight the need to continuously support festivals like this for the discovering of talents, THEWILL looks at the NSF from its origins to its current terminal at the revered ancient city of Benin.

The NSF was conceived as a biennial multi-sport event organized by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Sports Commission for athletes from all the States of Nigeria. The vision of the General Yakubu Gowon administration was to exploit the uniting characteristics of sports to promoting peace and cross-cultural affiliation in Nigeria and use it as an instrument to reconcile Nigerians after the bloody 30-month long Civil War ended in January 1970.

Lagos played host of the maiden edition of the festival in July 1973, staging the festival at the magnificent National Stadium, Surulere, which was an architectural marvel at the time. All the 12 States of the federation were duly represented at the festival and, unlike what currently applies, it was designed to accommodate three categories of athletes: athletes aged under-13, the intermediate and then, the senior athletes.

It so happened that Bendel State (Bendel State was formed in 1963 from the Benin and Delta provinces of the Western Region) under their then sports loving Military Governor, Brigadier Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia, after whom the current host venue is named, won the inaugural edition, beating the host Lagos to emerge overall winner.

As an end-product of the uniting purpose of initiation of these Games, the competitions were to have the added role of developing and training of athletes who will come as representatives of their various States and will emerge as national champions to represent Nigeria at continental and international meets. Combined, these two purposes became the foundational basis for the NSF at conception.

Around these twin purposes, the following founding objectives were crafted to keep the purposes in perspective on the decades to come:

To build a robust talent pool of athletes;

To enhance and elevate sports at grassroots level;

To establish a standard programme for athletes’ succession;

To enhance and elevate sports at grassroots level;

To curb age cheating in Sports;

To encourage early participation in Sports;

To engage young athletes in the Olympic Movement, skill development and social responsibility;

To enhance cultural and educational development;

To promote National unity.

These were noble objectives that, were they religiously adhered to today as they used to in the years that followed that debut edition at the National Stadium in Lagos, the sports fortunes of Nigeria will have been the toast of, not just the rest of the continent alone but, countries across the globe. This is so because all major sporting events were entered for the Games and were accorded equal treatments.

However, no sooner had the NSF kicked off than its very existence was threatened at the 2nd edition. There was a bloodless coup that ousted the Gowon regime just as the contingents from the States in the country had already converged on Lagos. But, because of the importance attached to the unity character of sports and desiring to keep anything promoting unity alive, the new regime of General Murtala Mohammed decided to allow the Games proceed as scheduled.

In the editions that followed, the process of qualification was straightforward. Athletes were selected for state-wide competitions based on those who succeeded at grassroots competitions at the local government level. Those who were victorious at the states’ sports festivals automatically became contingents that represented their States to participate at the NSF. The governors of the States provided support to enable their representatives participate and so it continued.

After the second hosting in Lagos in 1975, which the General Mohamed junta allowed to hold, the National Sports Commission (NSC), under whose auspices the events are organised, believed that it was in keeping with the basis of national unity to rotate the hosting rights of the NSF so that States can work towards hosting to welcome athletes from other states, develop their own capacity, have athletes from other States learn about different parts of the country and to give Lagos State a break.

In the immediate aftermath of that rotational decision, Kaduna State picked up the first non-Lagos hosting rights and was, therefore, the venue of the festival in 1977. Athletes discovered during the festivals formed the bedrock of the country’s national teams and majority of them represented the country in the third All Africa Games in Algeria in 1978.

Oyo State succeeded Kaduna for the rights to be the host of the 4th edition of the NSF, which they tagged Oluyole ‘79. In 1981, it fell to the current hosts, Edo State, for their first rodeo of hosting a nationwide festival. In like manner, the festival moved around the different states in the country. There was Kwara 1985 and Bendel 81.

Yet, just as State representatives were beginning to get into the cycle of a biennial challenge of their gifts and talents, and those ready for the 1983 edition of the Games, the history of postponements that the NSF was to suddenly become infamous for began. An uncertain political situation in the country from the military coup of General Muhammadu Buhari was responsible for the officials to the Ministry of Sports preventing the Games from holding.

The next time another event held was in 1988, after a seven-year gap caused by instability and a lack of vision in the planning phase. The 1988 edition was hosted by Rivers State and took place in the capital city of Port Harcourt. Then, there was the case of Bauchi that nearly turned into a bloody footnote in the annals of the NSF. Bauchi’s first hosting, of 1991, was marred by violence of a religious nature.

A longer interval of postponements ensued as there were no Games held until 1996 in Makurdi after which a run of regular games continued with Imo in 1998, Bauchi’s second in 2000, Edo in 2002, the Federal Capital Territory Abuja in 2004 and Ogun in 2006. Kaduna hosted again, after a year-long delay to get ready, in 2009, then Rivers State followed for their second in 2011, while Lagos picked the responsibilities for the 2012 edition because it had been agreed upon before the delays caused by Kaduna.

Then came the drama of the 2014 set of disappointing setbacks for States and, especially, the athletes. The hosting responsibility fell on Cross River State, which was having the honour of organising the events for the first time and it was the first time that a city bidded to host the Games. Former Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke was set to use the 19th edition of the NSF to showcase the rich heritage and hospitality of Calabar to everyone watching, for which they tagged it “Paradise Games”.

There was a logo unveiled, there was a mascot christened “Bamba”, a gorilla from the rainforest of Boki and the governor wanted it to be the crowning glory to make him “the most sports-loving governor” of the era. It all came to nought. After several postponements, the Sports Festival was scheduled for November 8 to 21, 2016 in Calabar. Again, it did not materialise. All this while, athletes were at different stages of readiness, waiting to be called upon to represent their States, putting aside other plans, responsibilities and their lives on hold, only to be greeted by one postponement or the other.

After six years of false starts, what was meant to be a biennial NSF went to the capital Abuja, which took up the slack and hosted the Games after other states backed out. The intervening period saw a lack of regular sporting activities around the various stadiums that were often bubbling with activities and preparations under the regimen of trainers and state officials. The absence of these meant these spaces were taken over by idle hands who left them in different stages of disrepair by the time regular sports resumed ahead of the Games.

Also, with no pool of budding talents from which to draw to represent the country, there was no way to avoid the consequential abject display of the nation’s athletes at most tournaments. It was a clear demonstration of the government’s, at state and federal levels, lack of commitment to sports in years past. Unfortunately, many state governments are yet come to appreciate the fact that sports is now big business across the globe and a veritable means of earning in both local and foreign currencies, when appropriately supported.

Nigeria is endowed with a very young and active population ready to take on the world given the right circumstances. Yet, again and again, the government relegates sports to the background. This has often been to the advantage of other countries on the continent and beyond, who take in Nigerians, give them the conditions and facilities to excel and see them become global sporting icons for those countries at the expense Nigeria.

There is a growing population of Nigerian youths who see football as a route to escape poverty and hardships. Engaging the youths in constant sporting activities can unlock their potentials, which they may never have believed they possessed, and will be uplifting enough to also free them from the idleness that can lead to engaging in criminal activities that can lead down a rabbit hole of a life dedicated to crime instead of to productive and positive actions that can be beneficial to society.

The idea of a national competition in the mould of the Commonwealth and Olympic Games has paid off. It became what it was conceived to be: a fertile ground for the budding of sporting talents. In no time, it witnessed the emergence of stars like Innocent Egbunike, Chidi Imoh, Henry Amike, Yusuf Ali, Ezinwa brothers (Davidson and Osmond), Mary Onyali, Falilat Ogunkoya, Faith Idehen and Beatrice Utondu, among others, sprang up. The NSF was the springboard to the stardom they were to attain later in their professional sporting careers.

The level of professionalism that made this happen must return for the glory of Nigerian sports to shine again. Sharp practices often employed by States founded on a win-at-all-costs mentality do not align with the noble objectives of the founding fathers of the NSF. Most States have taken the practice of flying in international athletes from abroad that claim their State as their state of origin to represent them to the detriment of budding talents who will fly the next generational flag of Nigeria’s sports.

The grassroots phase of the qualification requirements has been jettisoned to the disadvantage of new talents and States have engaged in recycling the same old names, preferring to engage established acts than do the real work of discovering and training new talents to the highest levels. And, with the disbanding of the Junior and Intermediate levels of the Games, this has rendered moot the very objective of discovering the next Egbunike, the next Onyali, the next Ogunkoya.

A return to the basics of grassroots discovery of talents from where they will compete to get representatives for each State must be a starting point. Sports must therefore begin at the local government areas, schools, communities across the country to discover talents who will compete for national champions to emerge. This must go beyond football to cover all manner of games, indoor, outdoor, table, court, grass and the others.

The importance of funding this rebirth must not be overlooked and it behoves States and Federal Government to initiate partnerships with private bodies to see to it that the financial responsibilities are borne for an atmosphere that encourages sports-minded young talents to stay in the country, grow their talents, become the best anywhere in the world while flying Nigeria’s flag as their predecessors before them proudly did, for the honour and glory of the Green-White-Green.

About the Author

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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

Jude Obafemi, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

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