Bindawa: Nigeria’s Olympic Glory Hangs on Golf, Not Athletics

A former Board Member of the Nigeria Golf Federation, General J.S Bindawa, has said that Nigeria will not have any back door entry into the summit of sports by devoting most of her resources to football and athletics alone.

He insisted that ignoring a game like golf which could fetch over ten gold medals in Olympics was not the best approach to solving the perennial heartaches that comes with returning from the Games with one or two miserable medals.

‘’They say golf has its own federation but I can’t see it’,” said Bindawa who is equally a former Defence Attache to the Nigerian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan.

“I say this because the government never allocates any fund to that body. As at the last time I had a look at that body called the Nigeria Golf Federation, I noticed clearly that it was the Federation’s former President and presently Caretaker Committee Chairman, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola that has been spending his personal money to keep the federation’s secretariat running.

‘’And we are now talking about golf that has overflow of talented youths in every corridor of the nation. You will not even believe it that the government is not doing anything to harness the talents of these youths. This is grossly unfair.

Bindawa recalled how he helped to support youthful players of the game.

‘’I can recall how I put lots of the youths on my hands alone for years. I selected great talents from across all regions of this country and was taking them to youth tournaments across the world at my own expense. I was doing this with the belief that the federal sports ministry would lend a helping hand at some point. But all this, to no avail.

‘’I equally learned that on two occasions the youths were sponsored to international meets so that their talents could be harnessed, it was this same Prince Oyinlola who paid from his pocket to ensure the nation participated in those meets. Now, tell me how do you grow the game in this harsh manner.

‘’What I cannot even understand is that rather than the government give to golf which is the next big thing in the world, funds are mostly devoted to football and athletics. And mark you, even football did not make it to the Olympics despite the huge funds spent on it. And if we are thinking athletics would come to the fore to bring us glory at the Olympics, then we are getting things wrong. Golf is the right path I see at the moment.

‘’Again, I think we must get our priorities right. Sports like swimming and golf that command basket of medals at the Olympics should be attended to without any delay. A situation where golf which is being played by over three million Nigerians is completely ignored is unacceptable’’.