Paris Olympics: We Came, We Saw, We Failed!

From 26 July to 11 August , Nigeria joined over 200 other countries to compete for various events at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Since Nigeria made its debut at the Olympics in Helsinki in 1952, Nigerian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, except for Montreal 1976. Sadly, this year’s Olympics was a woeful outing for the nation, as our 88 athletes who competed returned from the Games without a single medal. With a budget of N12 billion, much was expected from Team Nigeria; but, the abysmal and zero medal outcome is still leaving Nigerians perplexed and disappointed. Chijioke Okoli, SAN, Dr Akpo Mudiaga Odje and Kede Aihie take a holistic view of the scandalous outing, and examine where and how the nation may have got it wrong, while making viable suggestions for the way forward to a bettser outcome at the next Summer Olympic Games, that is, Los Angeles 2028, and other international competitions 

Nigeria and the Illusory Holy Grail of Respectable Olympic Games Outing

Chijioke Okoli, SAN

Shame and Disgust

The abysmal outing of Team Nigeria in the just concluded 2024 Olympic Games in Paris has left the Nigerian sporting establishment and the Federal Government unspeakably embarrassed, with the populace understandably disgusted. Nothing ameliorates the monumental shame of a nation of over 200 million people, returning from the Olympics empty-handed for the second time in a row. The debacle verges on the ridiculous, with the sobering appreciation of Nigeria’s vacuous self-consecrated crown of ‘Giant of Africa’, against the backdrop of its title of the continent’s worst performer per capita, and even in absolute terms. Whilst some other African countries returned home with no medal at all, just like Nigeria, none of those had close to even half of the 84 athletes and the total contingent we took to the games.   

Twelve African countries were on the medals list, with Kenya’s eleven medals, including four gold medals, top of the pile. The three countries which tied in ninth place with one silver and bronze medals a piece, include Cape Verde which has a population of 590,000, considerably less than the number of inhabitants of Ikeja municipality. Indeed, a friend of mine who attended the elitist English public school, Millfield, in making fun of the abysmal failure of Nigeria, pointed that alumni of the school won seven medals in the games, including four gold medals. The culture of ineptitude, culture yes, which fed and occasioned the shameful Olympics outing, is exemplified by a string of incidents which beggar belief. 

Ineptitude 

Nigeria contrived to come to a cycling event without the bicycle, and had to borrow from the Germans to compete. However, the Minister for Sports wants to spin it, the incident only but brings to life Chinua Achebe’s Igbo proverbial efulefu who sold his machete and went to the battle front with the scabbard. Again, there has been no explanation for the failure to register the sprinter, Favour Ofili for the 100 metres event. Anyone who knows anything about sports would affirm the truism that success in it, is more about mentality than anything else. Ms Ofili was fair medal bet in the shot sprints, but, her non-registration for the 100 metres event she was otherwise qualified for, not only shut out any medal hope for that event, but, also greatly destabilised her mind as to put her at a great disadvantage in the 200 metres race that she was eventually entered for.    

On the issue of non-registration of otherwise qualified Nigerian athletes, it is a good wager that will continue to occur until Nigerians begin to see consequences in the form of appropriate sanctions for misbehaviour and dereliction of duty. It is noteworthy that the parents of the United States silver medalist for the women hammer throw event, Nneka Echikunwoke, was competing under the flag of Nigeria for which she was primed to represent in the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. However, she could not compete in the games because of the failure of Nigeria to meet the testing requirements imposed on her representatives by the World Anti-Doping Agency. According to her, after setting a record as the first United States medalist in that event, “I think (this medal) could have happened three years ago, but I’m happy it’s happening now”.

Ms Echinkunwoke is but one of many athletes, over the past twenty-five years, who out of frustration have dumped the Nigerian flag for those of other countries and are seemingly better for it, having got onto the road to a more triumphant and fulfilling athletic career. 

Whilst it is quite easy to make the connection between our shameful outings in the Olympics and other global sporting competitions where we have been punching so embarrassingly below our weight, and Nigeria’s unacceptably poor standard of sports governance, what may not be so obvious is how intractable the problem may be, in the sense of it being rooted in the contemporary Nigerian culture of delinquency and self-aggrandisement in public service. Can one think of any facet of Nigeria’s public space which enjoys even minimum acceptable standards, much less meeting notions of international best practices? Nigerians may have been forced by the peculiarities of their socio-political situation (why and so, is beyond our present concern) to tolerate mediocre and indeed, dysfunctional governance, but, are invariably brutally reminded of their shortcomings whenever it comes up for scrutiny in a formal competitive or comparative multi-national or global stage.

The outrage we feign at the now seasonal exposure of our overall governance culture in the Olympics, is replicated with the outcomes of international legal adjudicatory processes involving Nigerian governmental entities where the coalescence of corruption, disdain for applicable rules and utter incompetence, has been frequently exposed as part of our national ethos. These entities would routinely breach otherwise binding contracts, observe the rule of law in the breach and are largely mollycoddled in Nigerian courts for a number of reasons, discussion of which are beyond our present topic. And, when a definitive decision is given against them, a way may be found to avoid compliance or disobey outrightly as occurred in the case of BFIG v BPE [2012] 7 SC (Pt.111) 1. The Supreme Court had decided, supposedly definitively, that the Bureau of Public Enterprises had blatantly breached its contract to sell the Federal Government’s share in ALSCON and consequential order for specific performance. It is now over ten years, but, BFIG is apparently yet to reap the fruits of that judgement. 

The case of BFIG v BPE is very important, not only for its crystal clear exemplification of the travails of the rule of law in our shores, but also as a controlling or central authority in a considered opinion I was engaged to give to a foreign sporting business group which was considering the acquisition of sports stadium/facilities in the country. Obedience to the rule of law has obvious benefits, including especially for economic development. And, it is axiomatic that the sports ecosystem forms a crucial component of the economies of not only the more economically advanced countries, but also some other African countries like Kenya. It is noteworthy, and as acknowledged in the Nigerian National Sports Industry Policy, that: “It is estimated that the global sports market-including infrastructure, events, training and sports goods – is worth $700-900 billion each year, and its growth outpaces the GDP growth of most countries”. Again, there are natural laws to which a people or group must obey or align their expectations to, otherwise which they would come to grief. The planter of groundnuts or maize, cannot reap rice.

Sports Governance Issues

There is no doubt that sports governance is not rocket science. All that is required is the will to break from, or at least, except for sports sector, our national or group bad habits which has occasioned the culture which prevents the country from achieving its potentials. The knowledge base and capacity is available in and for, undoubtedly. There is nothing required to be done to enable Nigeria get onto the road of maximising its sports potentials, that is not anticipated and covered in the extant National Sports Industry Policy which I had the privilege of leading the exceptional group which wrote, with the tremendous help of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group during the watch of the immediate past Minister for Sports, Mr Sunday Dare. 

It would suffice to mention that, central to the present national embarrassment, is the sub-optimal state of the National Sports Federations (NSFs); it is useful to avert here to their three- pronged fundamental challenges identified in the National Sports Industry Policy, namely, Administrative and Funding Deficiencies in addition to Absence of a Well-Structured Elite Athlete Development Programme. 

Some of the issues needing to be addressed under these categories include: a) inadequate legal, regulatory and governance framework; b) lack of a database of participants and other stakeholders; c) absence of long-term goals and objectives to drive their responsibilities and deliverables; d) non-conformity with sporting standards across the spectrum of sports participation; inadequate communication strategies on the part of the NSFs, as a means of increasing participation in their sports; e) absence of long-term strategies for talent identification across the country; f) inadequate and non-transparent scouting system to identifying budding athletes; absence of high performance facilities, dedicated to elite athletes’ development in several sporting disciplines etc.

As far from the ideal as it is, the present reality is that the Nigerian sports governance ecosystem or space is overwhelmingly dominated by government, especially the Federal Government. Initiatives for real reforms towards a fit-for-purpose governance structure must therefore, come from the Government. And, central to achieving this objective would involve yielding greater space to the private sector, as is generally the case in the more economically advanced and high-achieving countries in the sports sphere. Other considerations apart, the economic efficiencies and high levels of funding required for sustainable success in modern sport, are easier mobilised by the private sector. As posited in the National Sports Industry Policy, “A private sector involvement in the sports industry, would ensure the commitment to and flow of the required investment to deliver on the potentials of the industry to add value to the Nigerian economy. It will also assist the Government in its core objectives of social integration, economic empowerment and youth engagement”.

The Federal Executive Council had ratified the National Sports Industry Policy in 2022, and the current Minister for Sports promised last year that the Federal Government would begin its implementation. But, how far the implementation has gone, is yet to be seen. It must be emphasised that Federal Government needs to treat the issue with the seriousness it deserves, and ensures full and diligent implementation of provisions of the Policy. This would, amongst other things, require the emplacement of the right people in terms of capacity, passion and patriotism. Many such people exist amongst Nigerians, if the will to succeed is present in the highest political quarters. Chanting the mantra of primacy of institution-building must take into account that, it is people who build institutions. There should also be a proper audit, a post-mortem, for the proper lessons to be learnt and accountability ensured. It is only with these that we can begin to reasonably look forward to regular haul of Olympic medals, commensurate with Nigeria’s potentialities.                     

Chijioke Okoli, SAN, Sports Lawyer; Co-Lead Writer of the National Sports Industry Policy 2020

Our Olympics Failure and Lessons to be Learnt as We Prepare for 2027

Dr Akpo Mudiaga Odje

Federal Government Budgeted N12 Billion for this Fiasco

Indeed, we were all elated at the whooping budget of N12 billion  approved by Mr President, for the participation of Team Nigeria at the recently concluded Olympic Games in Paris, France. Of this sum, N9 billion was set aside for the able participants, whilst N3 billion was reserved for Paralympic participants, immediately after the able Olympics.

The euphoria that eclipsed the air was such that, it was expected that this set will outclass the equally woeful performances of Nigeria in the preceding Olympics in Tokyo 2020.

As the event unfolded, Nigerians became petrified at the complete incompetence of the Nigerian Sports Ministry and her administrators, to the extent that one of our participants in biking had to borrow a bike from compassionate Germany to assist us in our stupidity in that regard.

Very pathetic indeed, that I and other patriotic Nigerians wasted our time glued to the television, urging our participants to go for the fleeting illusional victory.

Nigeria: Crest fallen in All Games

Unfortunately, this was not to be, as the Nigerian participants became eliminated one by one, everyday, and two by two, every other day, even in wrestling, where we had great hopes as our female wrestlers had a reputable pedigree. They were also seamlessly eliminated, even into athletics.

Our Usoro and co, kept hope alive initially, but they were equally, as expected, eliminated before we could say Jack Robinson!

On the women football, we got the first shocker, when our Falcons who could no longer hear the falconer, lost three consecutive matches, and that set the precursor of our eventual catalogue of failures.

In basketball, our women rose up to the occasion defeating Australia, ranked number 8 in the world and also Canada, before collapsing as also expected, to the indomitable USA. Notwithstanding, we must commend their performance which set an African record of being the first African female team to reach the quarter finals in basketball at the Olympics. In addition, their dandy Coach, Rena Wakama, a Nigerian American, was voted as the Coach of the tournament. Figuratively speaking, this was a gold medal for Nigeria.

However, at the 4 by 100 metres relay, Nigeria came second in the second semifinals of the heats, breaking the African record, but, were regrettably disqualified as the first anchor violated the sanctity of his lane and that was against the rules.

What a waste of effort!!

The galaxy of failure continued unabated into other events, such as boxing, which Nigeria was traditionally strong in, and by far the most devastating failure, was that of the world record holder in 110 metres hurdles and our flag bearer, the iconic Tobi Amusan. She failed to even qualify for the finals of her event, let alone even thinking of winning a medal. In fact, when I heard of her elimination, I stopped watching the tournament for a while.

Incompetence of Our Sports Administrators and Political Interference

The end result of this, was like participating in jamboree, and not a participation in the Olympics. Needless to accentuate, our failure was and/or is traceable to lack of preparation and early planning. We are usually engaged in the fire brigade approach, to collect money and compile lists of participants without testing them. The qualifying race for the Olympics were a sham, as foreign based athletes were given automatic tickets even without competition, and unlike Political interference from the Minister of Spirts and other interest groups, imagine, one of our arrows in the female 100 metres, Ofili, was not even registered for her 100 metre event!

What a Country!

Ofili had to make do, with the 200 metres and 4 by 100 metres events, where she impressed initially before been subdued as expected. 

I have it on strong authority, that most coaches were enlisted through political pressure and nepotism.

Specifically, the boxers had no time to train, nor the facilities to do same. After all, the conflict within the Nigerian Boxing Federation, also took its toll on Nigeria.

The likes of Peter Koyekwachi who won a silver medal in the 1984 Olympics, were brushed aside for incompetent imposters. The fractionalisation in the Boxing Federation, made it impossible for the two rival claimants to work together, and the boxers could not train regularly, whilst and some had to use their personal funds to provide for their well-being and training. This point was well hammered by three time Olympian and Team Captain of Team Nigeria at London 2012, Chuka Chukwurnenye when he stated that:

“From me to you, here is a big warm hug. You have done your best. You are not a failures……I know first-hand, all the systemic challenges you faced. You literally squeezed water out of dry rock… Just getting yourself to the Olympic Games as a Nigerian athlete, deserves you getting an Olympic gold medal for a personal effort and sacrifice.”

•Way Forward for Our Future Olympic Participation

1. Early Preparations

We should not wait until a few days to the Olympics, before we commence rigorous training.

2. Early release of funds

The Federal Government should release funds early, to enable the team prepare well ahead of time.

3. The Sports Ministry must be supervised, to pick only qualified athletes to participate in the trials and subsequent Olympics.

4. Employing very competent coaches and handlers, for exposure and mentorship.

5. Removing politics and nepotism, in the selection process for our athletes.

6. Giving special preference to local athletes over their foreign counterparts, who did not participate in Olympic trials.

7. Providing the requisite facilities, such as good training ground, pitches and kits.

8. A system of checks and balances be put in place, to supervise and monitor that funds released to the Sports Ministry are judiciously expended.

9. Prompt payment of allowances to all deserving athletes.

10. Camping activities must be strictly monitored by the Sports Ministry.

11. Ensure proper dope tests are conducted on all athletes, to save the disgrace of the deportation of the Nigerian lightweight female champion on grounds of doping infraction.

12. Our Sports Ministry should be more pro-active, in scouting for athletes in Nigeria. They should look for raw talents, and not stereotypes.

13. Reduce the number contingents and officials attending the Olympics.

14. There is nothing wrong in the Sports Ministry, hiring competent sports expatriates as consultants to build our athletes up.

15. The reward system for athletes should reviewed regularly, to boost the morale of our athletes.

16. Enlisting past Olympian medalists as consultants as the case may be, such as, Ajunwa our first gold medalist in the Olympics and Peter Koyekwachi our silver medalist in the 1984 tournament. Even the veteran, Isaac Ikhoriaha, who won bronze in boxing at the 1972 Olympics should still be consulted, subject to his present age condition.

Quo Vadis

Indeed, if the Federal Government and her Sports Ministry can implement the above and more not mentioned, our athletes will be greatly motivated to aspire for gold.

It’s our fervent hope too, that Mr President will appoint a tested hand as our Sports Minister, and not hand picking political allies and overt relatives to steer the delicate ship of the Ministry of Sports.

Dr Akpo Mudiaga Odje LLD, LLM (London) (Merit), BL; Member of the British Council; Constitutional Lawyer

Nigeria’s Olympic Performance: A Tale of Poor Preparation and Incompetence

Kede Aihie

Nigeria’s Under-Performance 

Nigeria’s participation in the recently concluded Olympics was a dismal affair, with the country’s 88-member team returning home without a single medal. This lacklustre performance is a stark reminder of the London Olympics in 2012, where Nigeria also failed to secure any medals.

 The reasons for this underperformance are multifaceted, but, poor preparation and incompetent administrators are the primary culprits. The bungling of Ofili’s entry in the women’s 100 metres event, is a glaring example of administrative ineptitude.

 It is disheartening to note that the same old administrators are being recycled, with no expectation of change. The consequences of this stagnation, are evident in Nigeria’s consistent underperformance in international sports.

In contrast, countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany secured medals through athletes of Nigerian descent, highlighting the wasted potential of Nigeria’s sports sector.

 The female Nigerian athletes bore the brunt of the team’s performance, with some reaching the finals and semi-finals. However, this is not enough to mask the overall failure of Nigeria’s sports administration.

Nigeria ought to take a leaf from countries like Jamaica and Uzbekistan, who have made significant strides in sports development, despite limited resources. Jamaica’s investment in athletics has yielded remarkable results, while Uzbekistan’s focus on combat sports has earned them numerous medals.

Solutions

1. Overhaul sports administration: Replace incompetent administrators with competent and visionary leaders.

 2. Invest in grassroots development: Focus on discovering and nurturing young talents across various sports.

 3. Provide adequate funding: Allocate sufficient resources for training, equipment, and competition participation.

 4. Emulate successful models: Study and adopt strategies from successful sports nations, like Jamaica and Uzbekistan.

 5. Encourage private sector involvement: Partner with corporate organisations, to support sports development.

 6. Develop sports infrastructure: Invest in modern facilities and equipment, to enhance training and competition.

 7. Foster a culture of excellence: Encourage a mindset of winning and excellence, among athletes and administrators.

Until Nigeria adopts these solutions and learns from the successes of other nations, the country will continue to lag behind in international competitions. The status quo is unacceptable, and urgent reforms are necessary, to prevent another dismal performance at the next Olympics.

Kede Aihie, Chairman, Nigeria Magazine, London