Sunday Dare’s Ministerial Blues

By Tayo Balogun

Last Sunday, I was at an event put together by Sportsville to honour some Nigerians who it feels have contributed significantly to the development of sports in our country this past year. Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, was one of those honoured. The ceremony brought out many sports personalities from their closet. For instance, I got to see Mumuni Alao, the managing director of Complete Sports publications, Ms. Tayo Popoola( my colleague at the then Lagos State Sports Council), former Golden Eaglets and Under-20 Coach, Fanny Amun and former DG of Nigerian Broadcasting Communications, Danladi Bako for the first time in more than five years.

With the benefit of hindsight, I must concede that, perhaps, it is more correct to say I was the one who got out of my closet. Be that as it may, the event gave me something to talk about today – the challenges facing our sports and its helmsman Sunday Dare.

It is interesting to note that I did not get to meet the sports minister until last Sunday’s brief encounter when he was leaving the Radisson Hotel venue of the Sportsville Award ceremony, despite having had several telephone conversations with him.

During the first conversation which was initiated by him, he wanted to know if we could work together (euphemism for working for the Minister). I gave him several reasons why I could not, chief of which was that I no longer believed in his Principal – President Muhammadu Buhari. But I assured him I would do anything I could to ensure he succeeds as Sports Minister.

Since that time, I have kept my promise without even telling him. One of the things I did was to ‘ scare’ Bashiru Ali off his back when the boxer, as he had done with three previous Ministers, was going to muddle him unjustly for scuttling his dream of ‘ becoming the oldest boxer to win a world tittle’

From our numerous discussions and media reports, I know what goals the Minister has set for himself. He wants to be one of the best Ministers this country ever had. He wishes to be considered the one that laid the foundation for the growth of our sport. He would have wanted to be the Minister in charge when our country won the most medals at the Olympics. In summary, he wants to be the best Sports Minister this nation ever had. With just some fourteen months to the end of this administration, how far has Sunday Dare gone in meeting the goals he set for himself? He did not get what he wanted at the Olympics, but would probably see his efforts better rewarded at the World Athletic Championship and the Commonwealth Games. He would be able to further drive his desire to get more private sector participation in sponsoring our Sport. Maybe the Ñational Sports Commission would fully become functional during his tenure. Perhaps he would finally get the warring factions of our Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) to bury the hatchet and ensure our basketball continues to grow.

But getting all these very laudable projects done will mean nothing, or almost nothing if our senior male football team, the Super Eagles does not qualify for the World Cup at the expense of Ghana’s Black Stars.

It is unfair to tie Citizen Dare’s success or failure as Minister of Sports to our qualification for the World Cup but that is how it is.

Because I want him to achieve his aim of being one of the best ministers of sports we ever had, I will want him to do all he can to help our team defeat Ghana. Today, he must ask the NFF for their blueprint on beating Ghana. He must do all he can to ensure our team has all it needs to qualify. On paper, we have the team to beat Ghana in both legs of the qualifiers but we must look beyond what happens on the field of play. We must ensure that our boys are properly motivated to give all that they can. The target of the NFF should be to win both matches in Accra and Abuja.

Our Minister, must see to it that the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja is made a fortress of support for the Eagles. The gates must be made free for the 25,000 supporters that would be allowed to watch the match. We can dim the Black Stars and make them darker.

If we do not win (this is inconceivable), it would not be because we are not better. It would be because we are derelict in our duty.

And by the way, when we get to Qatar what is stopping us from making it to the semifinals or even the finals of the World Cup?

In the meantime, let us get Ghana off our path.