Satire
The resurrection of Ikpo Igbinoba
- Details
- Category: Sports
- Written by Solomon Aleke
- Hits: 674
Ikpo Igbinoba who went down with the old Daily Times Newspapers and remained stuck there like some one struck by a thunder bolt has suddenly regained consciousness, courtesy of an achieving former colleague at the Daily Times.
He has woken from his self induced long slumber and like one who has just woken up from a long deep sleep is saying things that neither have substance nor facts.
It is however regrettable that he has been given the opportunity to use the Leadership newspaper, a fast rising and creditable tabloid to spread falsehood in order to disparage and malign respectable Nigerians. His targets are men who unlike him have not only done a lot for their professions and Nigeria but also have track records of achievement in their chosen careers.
It is annoying to think that a man who could not rise to the challenge of moving on in life after the demise of the old Daily Times newspapers, could now after rehabilitation can now begin to deride the performance of people who have continuously contributed to the development of Nigeria in many areas.
The intension here is not to defend or promote any person or persons, but when people who have no business talking about achievements, dabble into an aspect of life that they do not have any claim to, one is pushed to react to such actions for the sake of sanity. We are all Nigerians. Most of us have access to the media, and we have a fair knowledge of what have happened in the sports sector in the last one year. Accepted that for some years now, Nigerian Sports, like every other aspect of our national life, has witnessed a down turn, it is also true that like in other sectors, honest and practical measures are being put in place to turn things round. It will take more than one year for the results of such measures to become very visible. It is therefore, wrong for any person to begin to pass judgment on the performance of any person or persons placed in position of leadership of these sectors now. Narrowing it down to sports, where Engineer Sani Ndanusa is in the driving seat, it is unjustifiable for any one to conclude now that he has not achieved anything in the few months he has been in charge of sports as Ikpo Igbinosa will want to us to accept.
For one, as Engineer Ndanusa who is the Minister of Sports has rightly pointed out, sports development in the past was based on a wrong foundation which has led to the problem of succession and replacement of athletes for international competitions.
This problem according to the Minister was caused by the failure of past sports development efforts to pay attention to grass roots sports development and the abandonment of school sports where majority of talented Nigerian Youths are located.
As we have heard him say in many fora, his approach to solving the problems of sports development in Nigeria will be a total re-engineering of the sports sector to give it a new and solid foundation through the development of grassroots sports and the establishment of sports academies that will discover and train the multitude of talented youths that abound the rural areas of Nigeria and who have in the past not had any access to sports facilities where they can develop their talents in various sports. These will constitute a major source of talents that will be developed into world beaters.
A practical way of doing this, he said and which he is doing is to develop sports facilities at the grassroots, starting with the building of Community Sports development centres in all the local government areas of the country through the partnership of the Federal, state and local governments in what he calls PPP (Public-Public-Partnership).
Information from the National Sports Commission (NSC) and confirmed by Private Sources indicate that such Community sports development centre will be ready in fifteen centres by the end of December 2009.
There are also indications from the state governments that the Minister has approached them to establish sports academies in the various sports that are popular in their areas so that the best in such sports could be trained and brought to the national level through the National Sports Festivals. I understand that being a tennis person, he has the only functional tennis academy in the northern part of Nigeria. Therefore, labeling him a Minister of Football amidst his efforts to give all sports equal treatment is to say the least uncharitable. Of course next year is a world cup year, the first in African solid and Nigeria is currently hosting the FIFA Under 17 World Cup and if football finds itself in the front burner of sports in Nigeria as presently is the case, any responsible Minister of Sports will give it due attention to ensure that Nigeria does well in these competitions. This not withstanding, Engineer Ndanusa has always maintained that ranking in World Sports is determined at the Olympics and that football as a sport has only one medal. His aim is therefore to ensure that all sports where Nigeria has chances of winning medals in international sports are given priority and equal attention so that Nigeria can improve on her medal level at the next Olympics and Common Wealth Games.
I understand that the NSC has secured a training site for Nigerian athletes at the 2012 Olympics. These I think, are actions that reflect the character of an all round sports administrator. When one looks at the relationship between the NSC and the organized private sector now, the several Committees formed to find ways to bring back the private sector to sports, the new tax rebate initiative and its benefits as pursued by the NSC, one will understand current interest being shown in sports by the private sector. These are good foundations for long term success in Sports. These are investments that require long but successful gestation periods and yields. Expecting immediate but short term yields in any form of investment including sport is akin to jumping into any of the professions without adequate education and training. It leads to stagnation and frustration and Ikpo Igbinoba knows it.
One believes and correctly too, that current innovations and actions including, concessioning of some of the federations to the private sector, producing an acceptable sports policy, giving the NSC a legal backing to ensure that professionals man the core areas of sports administration, which are being put in place under Engineer Sani Ndanusa hold a very bright future for Nigerian sports.
Criticisms are good if they are honest, correct and justifiable because they create room for progress. But frivolous claims based on hearsay and deliberate falsehood aimed at attracting cheap attention or satisfying some vested interests are distractions and counter productive.
If however, he has useful contributions to sports development though he does not seem to have any now, he should make them based on facts and sensible analyses. And if also he must justify the helping shoulder arranged for him by his former colleague who has of course made meaning out of his own life, he should avoid self seeking and attention catching claims and statement that will not add any value to the page he now controls.
Articles
The resurrection of Ikpo Igbinoba
Category: Sports Written by Solomon Aleke Hits: 674
Ikpo Igbinoba who went down with the old Daily Times Newspapers and remained stuck there like some one struck by a thunder bolt has suddenly regained consciousness, courtesy of an achieving former colleague at the Daily Times.
He has woken from his self induced long slumber and like one who has just woken up from a long deep sleep is saying things that neither have substance nor facts.
It is however regrettable that he has been given the opportunity to use the Leadership newspaper, a fast rising and creditable tabloid to spread falsehood in order to disparage and malign respectable Nigerians. His targets are men who unlike him have not only done a lot for their professions and Nigeria but also have track records of achievement in their chosen careers.
It is annoying to think that a man who could not rise to the challenge of moving on in life after the demise of the old Daily Times newspapers, could now after rehabilitation can now begin to deride the performance of people who have continuously contributed to the development of Nigeria in many areas.
The intension here is not to defend or promote any person or persons, but when people who have no business talking about achievements, dabble into an aspect of life that they do not have any claim to, one is pushed to react to such actions for the sake of sanity. We are all Nigerians. Most of us have access to the media, and we have a fair knowledge of what have happened in the sports sector in the last one year. Accepted that for some years now, Nigerian Sports, like every other aspect of our national life, has witnessed a down turn, it is also true that like in other sectors, honest and practical measures are being put in place to turn things round. It will take more than one year for the results of such measures to become very visible. It is therefore, wrong for any person to begin to pass judgment on the performance of any person or persons placed in position of leadership of these sectors now. Narrowing it down to sports, where Engineer Sani Ndanusa is in the driving seat, it is unjustifiable for any one to conclude now that he has not achieved anything in the few months he has been in charge of sports as Ikpo Igbinosa will want to us to accept.
For one, as Engineer Ndanusa who is the Minister of Sports has rightly pointed out, sports development in the past was based on a wrong foundation which has led to the problem of succession and replacement of athletes for international competitions.
This problem according to the Minister was caused by the failure of past sports development efforts to pay attention to grass roots sports development and the abandonment of school sports where majority of talented Nigerian Youths are located.
As we have heard him say in many fora, his approach to solving the problems of sports development in Nigeria will be a total re-engineering of the sports sector to give it a new and solid foundation through the development of grassroots sports and the establishment of sports academies that will discover and train the multitude of talented youths that abound the rural areas of Nigeria and who have in the past not had any access to sports facilities where they can develop their talents in various sports. These will constitute a major source of talents that will be developed into world beaters.
A practical way of doing this, he said and which he is doing is to develop sports facilities at the grassroots, starting with the building of Community Sports development centres in all the local government areas of the country through the partnership of the Federal, state and local governments in what he calls PPP (Public-Public-Partnership).
Information from the National Sports Commission (NSC) and confirmed by Private Sources indicate that such Community sports development centre will be ready in fifteen centres by the end of December 2009.
There are also indications from the state governments that the Minister has approached them to establish sports academies in the various sports that are popular in their areas so that the best in such sports could be trained and brought to the national level through the National Sports Festivals. I understand that being a tennis person, he has the only functional tennis academy in the northern part of Nigeria. Therefore, labeling him a Minister of Football amidst his efforts to give all sports equal treatment is to say the least uncharitable. Of course next year is a world cup year, the first in African solid and Nigeria is currently hosting the FIFA Under 17 World Cup and if football finds itself in the front burner of sports in Nigeria as presently is the case, any responsible Minister of Sports will give it due attention to ensure that Nigeria does well in these competitions. This not withstanding, Engineer Ndanusa has always maintained that ranking in World Sports is determined at the Olympics and that football as a sport has only one medal. His aim is therefore to ensure that all sports where Nigeria has chances of winning medals in international sports are given priority and equal attention so that Nigeria can improve on her medal level at the next Olympics and Common Wealth Games.
I understand that the NSC has secured a training site for Nigerian athletes at the 2012 Olympics. These I think, are actions that reflect the character of an all round sports administrator. When one looks at the relationship between the NSC and the organized private sector now, the several Committees formed to find ways to bring back the private sector to sports, the new tax rebate initiative and its benefits as pursued by the NSC, one will understand current interest being shown in sports by the private sector. These are good foundations for long term success in Sports. These are investments that require long but successful gestation periods and yields. Expecting immediate but short term yields in any form of investment including sport is akin to jumping into any of the professions without adequate education and training. It leads to stagnation and frustration and Ikpo Igbinoba knows it.
One believes and correctly too, that current innovations and actions including, concessioning of some of the federations to the private sector, producing an acceptable sports policy, giving the NSC a legal backing to ensure that professionals man the core areas of sports administration, which are being put in place under Engineer Sani Ndanusa hold a very bright future for Nigerian sports.
Criticisms are good if they are honest, correct and justifiable because they create room for progress. But frivolous claims based on hearsay and deliberate falsehood aimed at attracting cheap attention or satisfying some vested interests are distractions and counter productive.
If however, he has useful contributions to sports development though he does not seem to have any now, he should make them based on facts and sensible analyses. And if also he must justify the helping shoulder arranged for him by his former colleague who has of course made meaning out of his own life, he should avoid self seeking and attention catching claims and statement that will not add any value to the page he now controls.