NOC Rejects Sports Ministry’s Guidelines

SPORTS FEDERATION ELECTION

Femi Solaja

The cordial relationship existing between the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) may have finally broken down following the outright rejection of the guideline released last week by the Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung.

At the end of its Executive Committee meeting yesterday at its secretariat in Lagos, the NOC resolved that there should be a harmonious guideline on the national federation elections in line with international best practices.

The body argued that the essence of this harmonious guideline is to ensure that it conforms with the Charter of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the constitutions of the various international sports federations.

According to the Secretary General of NOC, Tunde Popoola, who briefed the media after the meeting, “the issue of ‘eligibility’ as contained in the Ministry’s guideline does not in anyway conform with the provision of the IOC Charter and constitutions of the international federations.

“That provisions in the guidelines which forbids Nigerians who are members of Executive Committees of their respective international federation from holding offices in their respective national federations locally will inhibit opportunities of getting more Nigerians into positions in the long run,” he argued.

The NOC scribe also picked some holes in the composition of the Appeals Committee, which he said “was a crowd of appointees of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports, with only one NOC member is not in accord with the principle of fair hearing. We (NOC) recommend that a team of independent persons be appointed as members of the committee for fair hearing,” he explained.

Popoola also narrated how the Olympic body has tried to maintain good relationship with the sports ministry, noting that the Godwin Kienka’s Reforms Committee made use of the NOC boardroom for most of its meetings with inputs from NOC but some individuals in the sports ministry for selfish interest threw everything over board.

“We are the direct descendant of IOC in Nigeria operating within this territorial water and established to coordinate the affairs of the federations just as the each sporting federation relates with the international bodies.

“It is time to correct most of the anomalies that are associated with the composition of boards of the federations. We are ready to thread path of dialogue and will appreciate if the sports ministry can allow everybody to operate within norms as approved by IOC and not manipulation of the compositions of the respective boards of the sports federations,” he insisted.

Last week, the Sports Ministry released the guidelines with too many contentious issues in the area of eligibility.
The guideline disqualified candidates that have spent more than two terms and as well as banning presidents that are currently serving in the executive committees of their respective continental/ international federations.
The battle for supremacy between the two bodies (Sports Ministry and NOC) has become a recurring decimal at every elective year.

The major cause has always been the special privilege accorded NOC Presidents at the Olympiad preceding the election.
After surviving several sports ministers, Late Raheem Adejumo was finally removed by then Sports Minister, Dr. Jim Nwobodo and was replaced by Adamu Dyeri before a serving director in the sports ministry, Habu Gumel took over and doubled as the President of volleyball federation.

There was synergy between the two bodies until he was upstaged by Sani Ndanusa who used his platform as a serving sports minister to plot his way into the plump position.

Incidentally, Gumel staged a comeback at the last election held in December of 2014 by snatching the NOC job from Ndanusa.

But his plan to return to the position is now threatened by the new guideline released by Dalung.
Other federation presidents disqualified from seeking fresh mandate by the new guidelines include; Solomon Ogba (athletics), Tijani Umar ,,(Basketball), Wahid Enitan Oshodi (Table tennis), among others.