Obanikoro At Abuja NSF, Says Open Festival Dangerous To Nigerian Sports

Musiliu Obanikoro (middle) with some para athletes

Former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro has taken a swipe on the sports authorities in Nigeria for making the ongoing 19^th National Sports Festival an open game.

Obanikoro, a chieftain of the ruling party, All Progressive Congress, was on ground to watch proceedings of the festival at Package B of the National Stadium, Abuja Tuesday afternoon.

Speaking with reporters after watching the final of the men’s singles of the table tennis event, Obanikoro described the chance giving to elite athletes to participate in the sports festival, which has hitherto been exclusive reserve of amateur athletes, as a dangerous precedent in Nigerian sports which must stop immediately.

“I don’t think it is good to allow professional athletes to participate in the National Sports Festival. We are sending a wrong message with this kind of policy. How are we going to encourage the upcoming athletes by placing them in the same platform with the athletes who have seen it all in their career?

“We should be able to give our young athletes a sense of belonging for them to grow in their career believing that the country meant well for them.

“Recycling athletes won’t take us anywhere. I’m for programme that will identify athletes. These professionals have made it big in their career, we should give the younger ones the chance to rise to the stardom too, not for the elite athletes to take the shine off of what supposes to be their competitions,” he said.

Obanikoro also harped on the need for the governments at both the federal and the state levels to see sports as a serious business. He said if all hands can be on deck, Nigeria can begin to generate good revenue for sports as it is being done in the advance countries.

“Nigeria has good talents in sports but we have failed to harness the opportunity we have in sports. I believe sports can grow our economy. We should take a cue from how other countries in the world are doing with sports,” the former Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana said.