Former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung has berated the decision of the ministry for dissolving board members of various sport federations.
Speaking via phone on Nigeria Sports Express a radio sports programme on Jordan FM (105.5) in Lagos on Saturday, Dalung said the development will affect the country’s preparation towards the Tokyo Olympics come July.
Recall the Ministry on Friday April 30th, dissolved the Board of 31 sports Federations, set up up a Caretaker Committees to oversee their affairs and directed them to hold an election.
The former minister described the dissolution as counterproductive of the ‘policy thrust’ of democratisation which the Ministry under him put in place and said it will have a multiplier effects on the development of sports in the country.
He noted that the democratisation agenda which was a panacea designed to eradicate the age long problems affecting the performance of the boards, provides that the Federations enjoy some level of autonomy from control of the Ministry so that they can earn the confidence of sponsors and investors.
Dalung stressed that the policy thrust required every sports federations to hold a national congress after the election in 2017 to produce a constitution that is adopted by the congress, deposit it to the Ministry of Youth and Sports and copy their international bodies in a bid to avoid the interference of the Ministry in to their domestic affairs.
Noting that sports federations are currently preoccupied with qualifications campaign and trainings of athletes for the Olympics, he said the dissolution will naturally instigate controversies between international Federations and their government .
“We must understand in international event like this, it is the Sports Federations and
National Olympics Committee (NOC) that are actors and it is not government so when you go for Olympics the Minister is only respected but he is not an actor, he said.
Dalung accused the current Minister for Youth and Sports of being contemptuous noting the ongoing litigation which emanated from the earlier decision of the Ministry to dissolve the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) adding that he could have waited for the decision of the Supreme Court over the matter which the Ministry had earlier lost.
