Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Nigeria’s Failure

Eddie Mbadiwe

The Tokyo games have come and gone. It was a celebration of humanity which has now been consigned to history. The International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government deserve kudos for pulling off such successful games inspite of strong opposition from within, and other risks associated with Covid-19 pandemic. What the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government displayed was a robust committed leadership.

Many nations celebrated, some wept and others was just there – indifferent not realizing what hit them. Where did Nigeria fit in? Mr. Sunday Dare the Minister of Sports at the Airport said Nigeria came 62nd (not true, we were 74) out of 205 countries. He said his contingent did very well. Mr. Minister your standards must be terribly low.

The small motley crowd presumably assembled by your Ministry should have convinced you that Nigerians were not impressed by your performance. In better times they line the streets, singing and jumping on the roof top of buses welcoming the Athletes. Mr. Minister all that did not happen
In days gone by when one was a University lecturer, Nigeria’s performance will deserve nothing but a red pen across the page. If one wanted to be less charitable, that performance would merit nought in the language of my friend Professor Gaius Igboeli.

This nation must stop celebrating mediocrity and abject failure. People must be held accountable for non-performance and we must have the courage to sign-post them to the exit door. It was Margaret Thatcher who said that to be a good leader, you must be a good butcher. We must get out of this cesspit of budget padding and crass negligence to have any chance of advancing as a nation.

One ingredients for success in international competition is patriotism. That is the spirit to do or die for the right as the anthem of Government Secondary School Owerri distils into every student on their first day at school. The Chinese were at the top of the medals table until the penultimate day, when the Americans pulled all stops and with grit and determination recharged the blood in their veins, toppled the medals table and emerged overall winners. That was patriotism in keeping with their Presidents mantra that “America is back.” The Americans showed the world who they are despite of all the shenanigans by their political class. Regrettably patriotism is in short supply or non-existent in Nigeria because President Buhari and his government cannot motivate the citizenry due to their track record of siting projects in one part of the country coupled with skewed appointments to all major offices in Nigeria. To worsen matters, there is no empathy between the government and the people they rule. Unless we have a change of direction agitations for restructuring will continue. Let us remember that you can take a horse to the watering pond but you cannot force it to drink.

Now is the time to start preparing for Paris 20/24 if we want to avoid another show of shame. Sixty athletes could only bring back one silver and one bronze to show for all that expense. We appreciate those who did strive to at least bring back something.

This is the time to search for brand sponsors and there are many. All the companies scooping billions from the fat of Nigeria should be cajoled and if that does do not work, be forced to adopt at least one sport and start funding it from now till Paris. Organizations that came to mind include; NNPC, Nestle, Dangote, MTN, DSTV and their competitors. Let us remind ourselves that some of the gold medalists were as young as fourteen (14). This is the time to build school sports. It is senseless and stupid to start investing in people in their thirties and forties when their bones have started the process of calcification.

One other point nation’s gloss over is the economic value of a gold podium appearance. Arise O’ Compatriots; the Nigerian National Anhtem was not played even once. No amount of propaganda by Lai Mohammed and his Ministry will provide 20% of what a podium appearance will deliver to Nigeria in economic terms.
This is the right moment to start preparing for a rich harvest in Paris 2024

• Hon. Dr. Eddie Mbadiwe writes from Abuja