By 

Abdulgafar Oladimeji

The massive felicitation messages that have continued  to herald the announcement  of the appointment  of mallam Shehu Dikko, by  Tinubu’s government , as the chairman  of the  resurrected  National Sports Commission, NSC  has left me somehow perturbed .

Disturbed because , in Nigeria, it is trite that when you are assigned to man public office and everyone is crying  aloud hurray, hurray, hurray, then the public expectations are usually very high, the odds are often  higher that you may  end up  leaving  office as a villain.

Shehu Dikko  is a member of the old  sports boys association, if you really understand what  that means, he is of the sports oligopolies, cliques and lobbies.

But, I am disturbed in my spirit  that  if not careful, in the present divided  cliques exist the possibilities of the Shehu Dikko aggrieved boys  proceeding  on a revenge mission, against real and imaginary enemies , with their mission  robed in the furious claims that after all the maltreatments and  widely spread rumors of the humiliations Shehu and his gang must had  suffered , after he lost out in his bid to become the president of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF to the incumbent, leadership of Ibrahim Gusau and his gang, it  is their assumed turn for tit for tat.

Dikko becoming  the NSC chairman did not come easy on  the platter of gold,  there were stiff oppositions from forces that were vehemently opposed to his emergence as the new generalismo of Nigerian sports.

The short listing of Dikko for the plum job became a source to eke a living for lobbyist, foot soldier,s political jobbers,   forces that were for and against, even marabouts local and foreign  and different cadre of spiritualism practitioners were not left out of the party. thank God it was kept out of media spotlight, so sorry, Nigerian  sports journalists were shut out of the party.

Those in the camp of Dikko maybe warming up to launch an operation no mercy, from the city of no friend , no enemy, their torpedo is steaming and ready to strike, Lord have mercy.

Dikko boys have  claimed that  they were rubbished, humiliated, annihilated, mesmerized , therefore they would have a slice of their own pound of flesh.

But I warn, they should equally be ready to contend with the likes of Mr Harrison Jalla, what is good for the goose  is also good for the gander best describes what to expect in this  worst scenario, if it unfolds .

The good in the past few days after the return of Dikko is the mannerism with  which his appointment was celebrated from all corners of the country, I have last forgotten any Nigerian whose enjoyed  this sought of  goodwill, except former president Buhari, when he won his first four years term back in 2015.

There are also those who believed that, in those days ,when  Dikko was in power as the  head of Nigerian football league,  they had  an axe to grind with him, they have pledged not to relent, in their agenda to disrupt his days in office as chairman of the NSC with  petitions and litigations that may begin to spring up  possibly, Jalla and his men have just only  fired the first salvo, many more to come.

Dikko and his gang, as the new NSC chairman  it is good, it was bad and now  it maybe ugly.

Shehu Dikko is lucky , it is undisputed , his appointment has enjoyed so much good will from its  inception, meaning  that he could  proceed to leave a legacy that would continue to stun Nigeria’s sports history books , if only he would set an agenda on core issues rupturing the promotion and development of sports in Nigeria.

The biggest problem militating against sports development in Nigeria is lack of being   in place of an healthy sports legislation, Nigeria has no laws that can create a conducive atmosphere for sports  to thrive as a commercial, private or social enterprise.

The quality of sports  legislation is key in the drive for meaningful progress in the  sector,  in the day to day running of the affairs be it as it may in any part of human endeavors.

Every sector of any nation like any other arm of the economy  can only thrive, when there are laws that are in place to make it healthy for commercial, private or social investors to invest comfortably.

Where is decree 101, where is the NFA act, is NFF known to our laws, why is appropriation made in the name of NFA, while the governing body is NFF.

Check out with basketball, rugby union and rugby league, same old stories of no sponsors, who will invest his hard earned money in a sector that lacks legislative protection and  does not provide investment confidence .

If truly Dikko is the revolutionary as professed by many, he should proceed to ensure we enact laws that will encourage sports investments, this is what obtains in other climes, where sports today is key in their economic conundrum that we all envy. NSC should stir the drive towards Nigeria  producing sports entrepreneurs by pursuing the promulgation of sports business friendly laws.

NSC under Dikko must  exhibit the  courage requisite  to attract a turn around on how athletes and members of staff , coaches and administrator are recruited , he and his team has to show they posses the required will  to bring to an abrupt  end the commercialization, nepotism , discrimination in the processes been presently  deployed  that leads to recruitment of our athletes, coaches, officials, which stinks from near and afar.

Facilities is the heart beat of sports, today Nigeria is nowhere in terms of the existence of  the infrastructure been parade as national sports assets , when the Gusau led NFF threw in the hat to bid for the hosting of the nations cup , to many keen observers,  it was no doubt a jest from the  Gusau’s  stable , knowing  fully well what were the provisions of CAF statues concerning the requisite existing facilities, wherein Nigeria scored zero and still on zero score in terms of the availability of  sports facilities.

There is the urgent need to declare the state of emergency on Nigeria’s  sports facilities , national athletes needs to undergo preparations  at the best facilities, we need to host local major and international  sporting events to be initiated to the cult of top sports nations.

Dikko should set an agenda to turn around the state of our sports  infrastructure management, construction and acquisition of sports  facilities , is the ownership of sports facilities   on the exclusive or concurrent list on the Nigerian constitution, 1999 as amended ? , if you ask me, na who I go ask, like they say in local parlance.

Nigeria needs a sports development roadmap that is designed based on topographical considerations  and physical qualities of inhabitants  and sports appetites of the various parts of  the largest black nation on earth. Take for example, marathon in Plateau, table tennis in the south west, handball in Owerri and Minna .

As part of the roadmap  would be an chart  to revive the role and investment of the armed forces and the para military in sports, they are a fertile ground for breeding national champions in the areas of martial arts and other combat sports, it would serve dual purposes.

Our sports reward system is nothing to write home about, how can Dikko change this system, today  here  we are, Nigerian  national athletes who brought  honours  to Nigeria , many have ended up dying in shame. Our MON and OFR die of regrets and those alive are wallowing in  abject poverty.

Athletes and officials that brought Nigeria  pride and  honours  should be worshipped and treated  as heroes and when they are weak, we also need in place a system  that would  cater  for these nobles , how  Nigeria treats   its sports heroes  in their old age does not depict  Nigerian  as a serious sports nation, the new NSC has the task to address this challenge.

The national associations at the national and states   levels have  now constitute a menace, they are now a law unto themselves, they dole out  verdicts without recourse to mediation or arbitration processes as provided for in sports law.

Sports dispute  resolution is core to sports development and ;promotion, Nigerian athletes, coaches, sporting clubs,  sponsors  are bruised  by certain persons and they are  being  denied access to  the platform , where they could  seek for redress, they cant ventilate when wronged .

The new NSC under Dikko should take the issues of  sports dispute resolution seriously, NSC should summon experts to draft and implement a roadmap on how those who are deprived of their sporting rights could proceed to seek redress against national and state associations, who over years operate as warlords in their domains, this is a major factor in any true sports setting .

I make bold to state that sports associations in Nigeria conduct their elections without proper procedural provisions for redress, Nigerian are compelled to live with  bad officiating ,cant contest   league results, crisis surrounding transfer of players, age cheating, sponsorship, branding, merchandizing , doping  and rights of ownership disputes can not be challenged exhaustively, when there are sports disputes , its starts and ends at the stable to some persons with conflicting interest as arbiters, as it was back  in the dark ages.

Sports is a media event, it is better to have a vibrant sports writers without NSC than to have NSC without vibrant sports writers, Shehu Dikko is strongly accused of been guilty to have kept a close circuit of journalists friends in his days in the Nigeria league and NFF, fencing off others or labeling them as lepers,  Dikko must know that this time , the game has changed.

He is now an eastern star and must live above board in his tolerance of criticism, divergent opinions on issues, it is not just about football,  when Dikko and his NFF friends had  either  genuinely or  craftily hidden under FIFA statues to conduct their activities,  , it is now a very vulnerable Dikko versus the entire Nigerian sports world.

It is now a politically appointed Shehu  Dikko, not the Dikko that was then elected under the provisions of FIFA statues, which provided  and sheltered him  with some sought of immunity, now mallam Dikko is politically vulnerable, to survive,  he has to  and  must build bridges across the six geo political zones, running errands  in between his political godfathers and his  professional  family members.

He has to create a platform that would accommodate all shades of media expressions, good, bad and ugly , though may retain his inner  clique of journalists friends.

But in a whole the NSC under Dikko in dealing with Nigerian sports journalists should not go back to repeat the mistake of the past, where Dikko engaged journalists to do the job of public relation practitioners , he has to now at this stage  recruit  PR experts to handle core PR duties at the NSC to help him manage the mass number of sports journalists that would need his patronage as Shehu Dikko as a person and NSC as an institution of government.

Professionalism is key, failure by Shehu Dikko to usher Nigerian sports to light, from its present state of darkness , then posterity will not forgive mallam, if sports return back to darkness, Nigerian is an over aged bride for a sports sector, where sports technocrats would hold sway till eternity,  henceforth, after Dikko, in  Nigeria it is anticipated that  technocrats would be the ones to take charge, this largely depends  on  his performance  in office,  just like it happens in the ministry of justice, where only lawyers can take charge, like  in the ministry of health where only medical professionals of high pedigree can take charge, this is the level where Nigerian sports belongs, away from an era where people fall from nowhere to be assigned to the boys job, on compensatory ground s, Dikko must make sure it is done and dusted  with those whose have no business with this sector, who have no basic knowledge of the importance of preparations, competition periods and post competition periods activities .

Away from having people who would always ask sponsors for bribe scaring them away and still come back to ask or  keep querying why you have to always buy new  canvas, jersey and socks for the coaches and athletes.

The building of a Nigerian version of vibrant sports economy is achievable with the  conception of the right agenda and strict adherence to the laid down requirements , NSC under Dikko can plan,  implement fertilize  a sports economy,  since Nigeria parades  the human and capital resource needed to be amongst the  crème de la crème of sports nations in the world.

If Shehu Dikko and his gang can proceed to perform and not resort to effeminate actions, the name Shehu Dikko will be written in gold, in the books  of Nigeria’s sports  history, if  they opt for the opposite, history would also place he  and his foot soldiers on the opposite side of it .

Alas,  elder statesman, Sani Toro has cautioned Nigerians not to over celebrate the appointment of Shehu Dikko, citing the importance to await the presidential discretion on how much powers the NSC would wield, true talk, only time would tell.```