Olympics Fallout- NOC in $100,000 grant scandal

[MI5]

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/national/o ... scandal-2/

Our Reporter August 13, 2012

As Team Nigeria completed its participation in the London 2012 Olympic Games without a medal, Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) will have to explain how it spent IOC $100,000 grant meant for preparation of the nation’s athletes for the London 2012 Olympics.


As the nation reels in the acute pains of missing out on the medals table again in the Olympics, there was suspicion that the nation may have been short changed again on the fund meant for members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to prepare athletes for the just concluded Games in London. It was authoritative learnt that the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) headed by Engineer Sani Ndanusa got $100,000 to prepare the nation’s athletes for the London Games. According to Sports Trail checks revealed that the federations in the Olympics (Athletics, Weightlifting, Boxing, Taekwondo, Wrestling, Slalom-Canoe, Basketball) officially did not get a dime from the fund.


The question then is, which federations got the money. Or is it that the money meant for the preparation of the athletes will be made available to the concerned federations after the Games? An independent check revealed that N2.3billion was released to the National Sports Commission (NSC) by the Federal Government meant for the preparation of the athletes both at home and abroad for the Games.


The question now is, where is the money IOC paid more than six months ago to the NOC? Was the NSC or the Federal Government aware that such money was released to the NOC by the IOC? An e-mail was sent to the President of the NOC, Sani Ndanusa, on Sunday, 22nd July at 15:24 hours Nigerian time. It reads: “Good day sir, there is a story I am working on which I will seek your clarification. “This has to do with the money that the IOC normally gives members for the preparation of her athletes for the Olympics. We had two conflicting figures of $100,000 and another, BP250,000.

How much did the NOC ge?. (2) If you may oblige sir, what did your member federations get? (3) Is it true that no federation got any dime from this money? The allegation is that N100,000 was paid into personal accounts of some federation presidents and not to the federations. Is it true? (4) Is it also true that members of staff of the NOC have not collected their pay in the last three months? I will appreciate your response to these issues.

Wish you a successful outing in the London Olympics.” As we went to press, no reply was received. The IOC shares over 90% of its revenues to organisations throughout the Olympic Movement to support the staging of the Olympic Games and to promote the worldwide development of sports. The IOC retains less than 10% of its revenue. for the operational and administrative costs of governing the Olympic Movement.

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[MI5]

Nigeria’s London 2012 Olympic flop


http://www.punchng.com/editorial/nigeri ... mpic-flop/

MANY Nigerians are justifiably appalled at the dismal performance put up by Team Nigeria at the just-concluded London 2012 Olympic Games. While perennial African Olympic medallists, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa, enriched the continent’s haul with eight gold medals, other not-so-so regular medallists, Tunisia, Uganda, Algeria and even Gabon and Botswana, also weighed in with some odd gold, silver and bronze medals. But Nigeria, the acclaimed giant of Africa, returned home empty-handed, equalling her uninspiring record at Moscow ’80 and Seoul ‘88.

As the 55-man contingent of athletes and an unspecified number of officials returned home, with their tails between their legs, many are left to ponder where it all went wrong. Some have accused the athletes of lacking commitment. But anyone who watched Blessing Okagbare breeze into the women’s 100 metres final, coming from behind to beat a very competitive field in a personal best time of 10.93 seconds, or the way the female 4×100 metres relay team bested higher-rated quartets to finish fourth in the final, despite qualifying in the eighth position, would agree that the athletes gave it their best shot. The plain truth, however, is that there is a limit to what raw talent, determination and individualism can achieve without adequate preparation.

For serious nations, preparation for an Olympic Games takes a minimum of four years. That means, for those who medalled at the London Games, for instance, there are only a few days to celebrate their victory. They must return to training in earnest immediately for the next games scheduled for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016. The serious nations give sport all the seriousness and attention it deserves. To them, sport transcends mere recreation; it is an important tool for image projection and diplomacy. It is a big industry that engages the youths who would otherwise have channelled their abundant energy into other untoward activities.

But in Nigeria, only lip service is paid to sport. Rather than place sport in the hands of professionals, it has been hijacked by politicians. A politician does not necessarily need to know the difference between a tennis ball and table tennis bat to emerge as a minister in charge of sport. He takes time to settle down and tries to make some sense out of an unfamiliar territory. But no sooner has he started learning the ropes than he is tossed out to make room for yet another rookie, and yet another round of tutelage.

Nigeria’s preparation for London 2012, typically, started just weeks to the competition. In basketball, for instance, the coach, Ayo Bakare, just went to America and “conscripted” anybody with a name closely connected with Nigeria. Many of the players had never visited Nigeria before. They were just driven by the passion to be at the Olympic Games. By the time they defeated Lithuania and Greece, two world powers, to qualify for the games, they had already overachieved. It was sheer daydream – or reaping where one did not sow – to have expected them to come up with anything spectacular in London.

In the case of boxing, which gave Nigeria her first Olympic medal in 1960 through Nojeem Maiyegun, it was sad to see how far the country has been left behind. And this was not altogether surprising, given the fact that the boxers lacked exposure and were technically and tactically ill-equipped. During the tenure of the late Brai Ayonote as the boxing association boss, Nigeria attended so many competitions that, by the time the boxers arrived Barcelona, Spain, for the 1992 Olympics, they had fought most of their opponents at least once in the past and knew their strong and weak points. It was not surprising that Nigeria won two boxing silver medals in Barcelona.

Nigeria’s performance in London simply mirrors the decay in the larger society, where the values of hard work have been eroded. Just the way students who never read would want to rely on leaked questions and an unpopular politician would want to rely on rigging to get into office, Nigerian sport officials thought they could win medals without adequate preparation.

Fortunately, the London flop offers another opportunity for a critical review of Nigeria’s approach to sport administration. Interestingly, when it comes to sport, there is no reinventing the wheel. It is time to return to the path that brought us honour in the past. It is time to return to school sport. Most of Nigeria’s best athletes – Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, Falilat Ogunkoya, Innocent Egbunike, the Ezinwa brothers, Davidson and Osmond, Yusuf Ali and Fatimah Yusuf, to mention just a few – were products of school sport. Immediately they were discovered, they were offered scholarships to the United States where they had access to the best of facilities, coaches and competitions.

There should be collaborative efforts between the Ministry of Sports and its Education counterpart towards reviving the school sport system. The government should also discourage a situation where schools are built without playgrounds. The current situation where schools spring up without football pitches or playgrounds has robbed the country of a generation of sportsmen and women who will never be discovered because they have never had the opportunity to take part in sport themselves. This is very unfortunate.

The sports ministry should also draw up its budget and start preparing for the next Olympics immediately, while the government should ensure the release of funds on time. It makes no sense releasing N1.9 billion to participate in an event one never prepared for, as was the case with the London Olympics.

Nigeria must identify her areas of comparative advantage, such as wrestling, boxing, weightlifting, football and athletics, and pay adequate attention to them. Rio must not turn out to be a repeat of London.

[MI5]

Olympic medals are for winners .

Wednesday, 15 August 2012 00:00 Dele Ayoko


http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/ind ... r-winners-

When our team was departing for London for the Olympics and promises of gold were being made by the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC), one sports analyst had cynically remarked that the Nigerian team would not win any medal at the Olympics (let alone gold). He was roundly condemned as being unpatriotic. Indeed, the NOC had boasted Nigerian would get a minimum of five gold medals. But where was the arithmetic to back these promises?

By now, Nigerians have accepted their fate. The Nigerian contingent – Team Nigeria – was pummelled at every venue. From basketball to boxing, table tennis to taekwondo, wrestling to weight lifting, the result was the same. Nigeria did not record a single medal in the Olympics. The fervour of patriotism has since disappeared. This is a cruel collision with reality.

Within the country, the disappointment is palpable. At the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Nigeria managed to bring home only four medals, and none of the medals came in gold. China, USA and Great Britain were slugged it out for the top spot on the medal table. Many African countries such as South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, and even Gabon were all well represented on the medals table. Even smaller nations like Grenada and Jamaica shone at the world stage.

Few days ago, the minister of sports stated that the country should use this poor performance as a springboard for future performance. However, Nigerians are obviously not in a mood for oratory explanations of failure to soothe our bruised ego. We seem to remember our drawing board only when we have been handed a bitter lesson from international sporting events. These are the sort of performances that have made some call for the country’s temporary withdrawal from international sporting events. While this is ill-advised, we need to look at where we are getting it all wrong. The answer is probably not one thing but a host of things.

The biggest point is Nigeria’s lack of preparation for international sporting competitions. A recent statement by Obisia Nwankpa that our athletes only use three months to prepare for the Olympics speaks volumes. Our lack of preparation has finally caught up with us after years of riding our luck.

While sport is the most unifying factor in Nigeria today, the manner of appointment of sports ministers is worrisome. Most have no link with sports other than to watch it on television; as such, they have to learn on the job, and before they are able to contribute anything, they are replaced. The appointment of ministers of sports seems to have been a case of ‘if we don’t have anywhere to post this person, let us send him to the Sports Ministry’.

Sports development in Nigeria has also been stifled by the prevalent corruption in the administration of sports. Nigeria’s yearly budget dwarfs that of Grenada and Jamaica combined, but the funds are simply siphoned through inflated and bogus contracts, while the athletes are not funded.

Our grassroots sports development has stalled. We only hear of litigations, crisis, and petitions in the sports sector. The annual sports festival is characterised by states poaching athletes from other states with cash incentive in a bid to do well in the medal count. Immediately the competition ends, these athletes are quickly forgotten. Even the Nigeria Police that produced athletes like Chioma Ajunwa and Sunday Bada has gone to sleep.

Our organised private sector and non-governmental agencies need to pitch into sports. In western countries, many of their athletes are sponsored or endorsed. This helps them to focus on their main task of training. The vibrancy of Nigeria’s entertainment industry can be linked to endorsements enjoyed by some of these artistes. Sports cannot be left to the government alone. Many Nigerian companies would rather collaborate with foreign sports clubs to the detriment of their Nigerian counterparts. For example, Airtel spent a lot to bring Arsenal FC to Nigeria. Glo has also spent a lot to ensure partnership with Manchester United, etc.

Another point is lack of support for sports by Nigeria universities. In the past, many Nigerian athletes enjoyed scholarships from foreign universities. Where a student was identified as having potential in sports, there was a deliberate effort to assist him or her using university scholarship. This was how Onyali, Chidi Imoh, and the Ezenwa brothers were able to develop their potentials.

Parents also need to support their wards, since not all will become doctors or bankers. Consider the case of the Williams sisters in lawn tennis, Tiger Wood in golf, and Gabby Douglas in gymnastics. They all started early with their parents acting as their coaches.

Government should also show sincere effort by providing training venues and coaches in all parts of the country. Public facilities like swimming pools and tennis courts should be provided, where the average kid on the street with an interest can come and have his skill developed.

Finally, the culture of using and dumping our sportsmen and women should stop. Many of them go without any recognition at retirement. In other countries, they are honoured at retirement. We need to imbibe such in Nigeria if we are to bend the curve of sports downturn. These changes have become necessary as Olympic medals are for winners, not losers!

[Prince]

MI5,

The nayasayers said we should stop whining and asking questions and tell us what you are doing for your country

[fabio]

Can we start our preparations for the commonwealth games in 2016 now.

[ohenhen1]

Nigeria Olympic committee collective head no dey house. I won't be surprised if we don't win any medals at the next Olympic games in Rio.

[Guv007]

Can we start our preparations for the commonwealth games in 2016 now.

Release money or start a donation for it and remember performance and doing well is not the main aim but money/estacode.

[MI5]

Prince,

People love being part of the status quo and any attempt to expose them for what they do is met with anger and finger pointing.

I guess their own contribution is to steal... Nothing more... Expecting more fallout from the fiasco that took place in London... It seems with these crooks, there are no boundaries... Total disgrace...

MI5,

The nayasayers said we should stop whining and asking questions and tell us what you are doing for your country

[wanaj0]

Can we start our preparations for the commonwealth games in 2016 now.

For where? Everyone will wait till the even is over and start talking after the fact!

See all the DISCOVERIES coming out after the Olympics. How come they all kept silent during the preparation stages?

We should be preparing for the 2020 Olympics now!

[MI5]

Hmm Spokesman Wanajo,

Do you know what happened to this money?

Can we start our preparations for the commonwealth games in 2016 now.

For where? Everyone will wait till the even is over and start talking after the fact!

See all the DISCOVERIES coming out after the Olympics. How come they all kept silent during the preparation stages?

We should be preparing for the 2020 Olympics now!

[folem]

Can we start our preparations for the commonwealth games in 2016 now.

No commonwealth games in 2016.

[fabio]

Can we start our preparations for the commonwealth games in 2016 now.

No commonwealth games in 2016.

Sorry, 2014!!!

[pajimoh]

Can we start our preparations for the commonwealth games in 2016 now.

"Preparation" has no business together with "Nigeria" in one sentence