Sports
S’Eagles: It’s Time To Rely On Our Own– SWAN President
Following the Super Eagles shock loss and subsequent crash out from the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon at the last 16 stage, the President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN, Sir Honour Sirawoo has called for an introspection from the managers of football in the country and the taking of the right decisions to ensure that the national team builds on the positives noticed at the Championship.
The SWAN President, who was of the opinion that the Eagles ouster at the first knock-out stage after so much promise was unfortunate, believed that the team under an indigenous coach put up more impressive performances than they have done in recent years under an expatriate. He, thus, called for the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, to look inwards and give more opportunities to local coaches.
“It’s time to rely on what we have, our own”, said Sirawoo. ‘I think it’s time to give the local coaches opportunities to get better because the more you give an individual chances, the better he becomes. Austin Eguavoen has done well despite not getting beyond the Round of 16’.
According to the President, who is also the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Sports, Rivers State,” it is unfortunate that we had to crash out at the stage we did but that should not make us to begin to clamour for foreign coaches. We have good number of local coaches who have done well with our youth teams and some who distinguished themselves with national teams of other countries. We should be able to open them up to opportunities and equip them by sending them on courses to improve themselves”
Sir Sirawoo agreed that technical and tactical deficiencies on the part of the Nigerian bench contributed to the loss to Tunisia, as the team failed to react early and positively to the opponents’ strategy, he however, believes that Nigerian coaches have the potential to develop and take the country to the desired height if given the room, support and cooperation by the relevant authorities.
On the chances of the Super Eagles surviving Ghana and qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the President was positive that Nigeria would qualify.
“I think we would qualify for the world cup and going by what we have seen at the AFCON, Nigeria’s team and performance were better than Ghana and considering that the Eagles were missing some key game-changing players at the AFCON, I don’t see Ghana stopping Nigeria.
“Also, by the time the final qualifying round would come, I expect that due analysis on why we failed in Cameroon, what needs to be done to get better and the right personnel to prosecute the matches would have been concluded. In fact, I think Nigeria should be able to beat Ghana and be at Qatar 2022”, concluded Sirawoo.
By: Gabriel Nwanetanya
At the playoff held at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, the team of Canice Abua, Michael Emmanuel, Daniel Adeleye, and Abubakar Yusuf was majestic as they restored Nigeria’s hope in a sport that once gave the country so much joy.
Speaking after the final game, Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) President, Victor Ochei, said the Davis Cup feat is the stepping stone to better days in the sport, adding that the federation has set up programmes that will help the budding talents across the country play at the same level as their counterparts in other tennis-developed countries.
Ochei said: “The whole aim of having this new board is to lift the sport to the level we used to be. I tell you, tennis is taking a new shape in Nigeria. We are putting everything and anything to make that work happen.”
Ochei said that the NTF has looked at sponsorships and how to get the emerging players compete at the same level with their peers elsewhere, adding that the federation is working on organising local competitions and helping the players to compete in international championships.
“We believe that with what we are doing now, sponsors will come to us to organise new competitions. But beyond that, there’s a strategic growth development plan, a 10-year development plan, which the board is working on.
“The programme will ensure that we catch them young. This is because we believe that to create champions, we must start grooming them early. The champions you are seeing today were those groomed yesterday.”
“The process of building new champions will include building the coaches, the players, the infrastructure and sensitising the parents so that we can start catching them as young as age five to six.
“By the time that we groom them through 10 years of training, at age 15, 16, you will see fantastic professional players.”
To achieve the federation’s plans, Ochei admits that the NTF needs a lot of investment, adding that the board is working at realising the funds quietly and tenaciously.
The NTF president acknowledged the contributions of former international stars like Nduka Odizor and Sadiq Abdullahi to the bid to rejuvenate Nigerian tennis, adding that NTF is open to collaborating with former players who know what it takes to play at the highest level of the sport.
He said, “Nduka Odizor is around as one of our VIP personalities. He has been psyching up the boys in the battle with Uzbekistan. He will not enter the court to play, but his mere presence is enough motivation to the boys, who will want to be like him in the future.
“You see, the type of support the Odizors, the Imonities and the Abdullahis got in their time is no longer there, but we are revamping it with the support of our stakeholders in the Diaspora.
“It will appear to take us some time, but I can tell you that the Diaspora support is massive.”
In its bid to get good results in this year’s Commonwealth Games, the National Sports Commission (NSC) has disbursed N200 million as training grants to 26 athletes.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.
The NSC stated that the grants were disbursed through its Elite and Podium Board, noting that N200 million was allocated to select top-performing athletes.
The beneficiaries are both foreign-based and home-based, the NSC said, adding that it will cater for their training and preparation expenses.
According to the NSC, the recipients span several sports, including athletics, wrestling, weightlifting, and para-sports, in line with the Commission’s mandate to prioritise athletes’ welfare and high-performance development.
The Commission added that the disbursement follows the establishment of the Elite and Podium Board, created to implement a scientific and institutionalised support system aimed at sustaining peak performances by Nigerian athletes at major international competitions.
NSC Director General, Bukola Olopade, said the Commission, under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was established to restore confidence and provide renewed hope for Nigerian sportsmen and women by placing strong emphasis on athlete welfare.
“The training grants disbursed to 26 athletes across different sports followed a careful and professional selection process by the Yusuf Ali-led Elite and Podium Board. This is our way of reassuring our athletes that their welfare remains our utmost priority,” he said.
But his call for the board is, allegedly, not going down well within the top hierarchy of the NSC.
Shuaibu, a former Edo State deputy governor, who made the appeal yesterday, during a budget defence session at the National Assembly in Abuja, stated that constituting the NSC’s 17-man board would play a critical role in revitalising the sports sector.
According to him, a properly constituted NSC board would provide strategic direction and institutional stability necessary for long-term sports development.
He also renewed his calls for increased funding to reposition the National Institute of Sports (NIS) and advance sports development in Nigeria.
Shuaibu reaffirmed the institute’s commitment to fulfilling its mandate of training manpower for the sports ecosystem and promoting grassroots sports development, stressing that inadequate funding remains a major constraint.
“Our mandate is to train manpower for the sports ecosystem and promote sports from the grassroots,” he said. “But we cannot achieve this without adequate government funding. We need a budget that reflects our vision and mission to improve sports in Nigeria,” he stated.
Earlier, the Chairman of the House Committee on Sports, Kabiru Amadu, decried the poor funding of the institute, describing it as a critical pillar in national sports development.
Amadu emphasised the need for increased budgetary allocation to enable the NIS discharge its responsibilities effectively and pledged the committee’s commitment to working with relevant stakeholders to improve its funding for optimal performance.
Meanwhile, a top official of the National Sports Commission (NSC), has described Shuaibu’s call for proper constitution of the body as ‘unbelievable.’
The official refused to comment further when The Guardian urged him to clarify his statement on Wednesday.
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