Adamu gives pass mark to Nigerian sports, craves more corporate involvement

By Ifeanyi Eduzor
Former Director General of National Sports Commission, Dr. Amos Adamu says that Nigerian sports has done well in recent times even as he charged sports administrators to be more proactive and work closely with athletes and coaches in order to improve on the achievements recorded.
He told newstap.com in an exclusive interview that the country’s sports men and women have done well over the years but efforts need to be doubled to ensure that more successes are recorded in year 2023.
” It’s a thing of joy that Nigerian sports has moved to a level where it has been recognized all over the world but we need to double our efforts to get to where we want to be. You know in sports, you win some and lose some and nobody wants to lose but if you lose, always remember there is always another time for improvement.
our sports administrators must also work closely with athletes. Let them know their athletes because it is only through knowing them that they can appreciate how best to improve on their performance to get optimium result.
on the issue of poor facilities facing the country, he blamed it on the inability of corporate organisations to collaborate government efforts as is done in other climes charging them to do more in area of sports development
“The problem we are having in this country is that we don’t have the culture of sponsorship. We leave the development of all sporting facilities to government and government have limitations. The private sector has to be part and parcel of our sports development.
“They are trying but not doing enough especially when you quantify how much they are investing in sports with their other activities. Government on its part have tried to introduce tax rebate and other incentives but they are not always willing to do more and I hope they will have a change of heart in the coming years.
Assessing the just concluded National Sports Festival the seasoned sports administrator regretted that the festival is no longer as relevant as when he was in charge because athletes now go there just to participate and go home
“These days athletes just go to the Sports Festival to participate and go home making it lose its relevance. In those days, we have junior, intermediate and senior competitions and athletes grow from one stage to the other which enabled us discover budding talents that later did the country proud at the international level and that’s what I want to see happen again in the Nigerian version of the Olympics.
On how to move the country’s sports to greater heights in the new year, he was emphatic that age cheat must be avoided because it does not encourage development of athletes and does the country’s sports more harm than good.
“We must do the right thing at all times and avoid age cheat. if you say an athlete is U-20 let him be U-20 and if you say he is 15 years let let him be. Don’t use a 20 year old to compete with a 16 year old because it does us no good.
Speaking on what made his tenure a memorable one he explained that he made journalists his best friends and got many technocrats involved in running the country’s sports.
” When I was there journalists where my best friends. Once I have any complain or information to give out, I will call the journalists and the information will be all over the place and that helped make my work easy