Dalung’s 4 Years As Sports Minister: Huge Blessing For Nigerian Sports – ONY
A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), One Nigeria Youth (ONY) has applauded Nigeria’s Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Barrister Solomon Dalung for the impressive achievements witnessed in the nation’s sports sector in the last four years.
This is as the group canvassed that Nigerian sports needs practical leadership, willing to embrace change and ready to lead a reformation in that sphere of human endeavour.
Simply put, ONY insist that leadership, not being a static endeavour, demands fluidity and willingness to recognize needs and resolutely go for it through one’s ability to engender positive changes.
According to the National Coordinator of the One Nigeria Youth, Magnus Oku, this disposition and virtues are what Minister Solomon Dalung has stood for in almost four years as Nigeria’s Minister of Youth and Sports Development.
He said “Nigeria has had several Sports Ministers since the inception of this current democratic dispensation without much impact in terms of sports reforms. But Barrister Dalung, by his impressive records, has proven to be one of Nigeria’s best Sports Ministers in the history of sports development in the country. Interestingly, it is on records that he has achieved what several other sports administrators could not achieve for several years with proven facts on ground to show.
“Dalung’s agility, innovation, focus, fluidity, decisiveness, commitment, and above all, a bias towards prompt action have led to the reforms so far witnessed in the nation’s Sports sector. He was able to identify the need for change and we all appreciate that the desire for change exists in every organization.
“More so, it is imperative for an organization to adopt positive changes in other to survive in a competitive environment. The Minister began by democratizing the sports sector in Nigeria and it is the same implementation of the change agenda that has resulted in the evolving, growing and thriving sports industry in the course of this current administration.”
In fact, the sequence of argument delivered by one Chibuike Chukwu uncovers on its own that from the inception of this present democratic dispensation, beginning from Damishi Sango to Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi and Tamuno Danagogo, there has not been an achievement of such impressive magnitude during any single administration compared to what has been achieved within four years of Dalung being on the saddle as Minister.
The ONY Coordinator maintained that last year only, Barrister Dalung recorded a milestone in sports development which include Nigeria’s emergence as overall champions at the 5th African Wrestling Championship held in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital between February 7 and 11, 2018; the country’s first ever position in major championship with 90 Gold medals. Also, for the first time, Nigeria participated in the 23rdWinter Olympic Games held from February 9 to 15, 2018 with the trio of Shewun Adigo, Ngozi Owunmere and Akona Amioga making history and recording their personal best. Similarly, Team Nigeria finished strong at the 2018 Commonwealth Games after a four-year break, winning 9 Gold, 9 Silver, and 6 bronze medals overall.
Also, D’ Tigress, Nigeria’s Female National Basketball Team made history as the first African side to qualify for the next round of FIBA World Cup, finishing 8th in the world for the first time ever. This was a good build-up from the 2017 achievements that included Super Eagles’ qualification as the first African Nation for Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup without having to set up a Presidential Tax Force with huge tax payers money sunk into the qualification project. No doubt, it was an outstanding achievement even as one can also easily recall the big breakthrough of D’ Tigers at FIBA African Championship as well as the outstanding exploits of D’ Tigress at the Afro Basketball Women Championship within 2015-2017, aside impressive performances recorded in Athletics, Table Tennis, Wrestling, Para-lifting, and Volleyball among others sports.
In recent times, the status of various Sports Federations, including the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has enhanced Nigeria’s cordial relationship global sports bodies, foremost being the World football governing body, FIFA, with the organization even holding an Executive Football Summit (EFS) in Lagos in February 2018.
This proactive action by the Sports Minister has indeed ensured the emergence of credible leadership for the different Sports Federations, with the immediate dividend being manifest improvement in the performances of athletes under these federations in various continental and global championships.
Other major feats recorded in the sports sector include democratizing elections into the Boards of all National Sports Federations in the country; successful hosting of the postponement-ridden National sports Festival in Abuja; and Youth Games in Illorin, the Kwara State capital.
As in the case of NFF power tussle, it is worthy of note that the Sports Minister Dalung never foisted anyone on Nigerians or the leadership positions of the sports federations as was the ugly practice in years past.
The NFF leadership tussle between Amaju Pinnick and Chris Giwa that some would want to readily point to should simply be seen as a typical case of selfishness, pride and arrogance by some people who see themselves as being above the law given their ego as FIFAs anointed personalities. The Minister cannot be blamed for asking the warring parties in the NFF to settle for a peaceful resolution of the crisis rather than intractable court cases that almost dragged the country into an unnecessary face-off with FIFA.
Recall that at the inception of the NFF’s legal tussle, Dalung, as a father to all, had appealed to both parties and solicited their understanding in resolving all contentious issues as a family. However, Mr Pinnick, refusing to thread the path of caution, was rather comfortable with setting the issues in court. It is a known fact that when you submit yourself to a court of competent jurisdiction to adjudicate on any matter, you must therefore be willing and ready to abide by the court’s processes and accept the eventual outcome, positive or negative. So, one wonders why the same Pinnick, who insisted on following due court processes, would thereafter refused to comply with the ruling of the same court.
Therefore, Dalung cannot be faulted for simply following a democratic process by letting the rule of law prevail in all the court’s proceedings. As a lawyer, Dalung should be applauded for his stance on the rule of law as there is nothing in law and jurisprudence that can credibly object to his submissions on the NFF’s imbroglio. The Minister remains loyal to the rule of law as an indispensable factor in the administration of a state and the hope of the common man which he strongly believes should never be compromised. ONY insist that Nigeria cannot submit itself to neo-colonialism as a sovereign nation by allowing an external law(s) to thwart our domestic judicial processes as an independent entity.
In conclusion, the ONY therefore states that; “You cannot effectively lead any change without understanding the landscape of change. And Chibuike having heard from a staff of the Sports Ministry, who had seen the transition and transformation in the sports sector for over 10 years, in reality, should know that Dalung, among several other positives, has the passion, charisma and result-oriented mindset to further steer the wheels of Sports development in Nigeria to the ‘Next Level’ in the years to come.”
Truth be told, Dalung’s reforms have aided the sports development from the grassroots because the democratic processes he has put in place have continued to impact on every segment of sports in the country.
So, retaining Dalung as Nigeria Sports Minister would not be out of place but should be seen as another opportunity to consolidate on the good works that he has done with the Ministry of Youths and Sports Development in the last few years.
– Magnus Oku, National Coordinator, One Nigeria Youths (ONY) writes from Abuja
