Fostering West Africa’s Integration Via Sports

In contemporary times, sports have come to play important and dynamic roles in inter-state relations and politics, apart from serving recreational purposes and enhancing man’s physical development.

During the era of racial segregation in southern Africa, for instance, African nations found it expedient to use sports as a tool to fight the racist regimes.

Also at the peak of the Cold War, the 1980 Moscow Olympics was boycotted by many nations at the instrumentality of the U.S., to protest against Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Moreover, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) and the soccer-governing body, FIFA, have always highlighted the roles of Olympiads and World Cup Championships in promoting unity among the peoples of the world.

ECOWAS, as a sub-regional body, is not averse to the roles of sports in promoting the integration of its peoples; hence it incepted the West African Football Union (WAFU) soccer championship and the ECOWAS Games, among others.

Recently, the 2nd ECOWAS International Cycling Tour was organised by the Ouagadougou-based ECOWAS Youth and Sports Development Centre (YSC) for the sub-region’s national teams, as part of efforts to foster the peoples’ integration.

By the popular accounts of the officials and participants, the tourney has, indeed, helped in making West Africans to know and appreciate themselves better.

According to Francis Njoaguani, the YSC Director, the games have helped to overcome some challenges of over 36 years regarding ECOWAS’ set goals and objectives.

On his part, Mohammed Sahoon, the President of Ghana Cycling Federation, said that the sports event was a reminder that “we no longer require barriers to free movement of people, goods and services in the sub-region”.

“Aspects of the integration are being achieved fast, as the crossing of boarders, for instance, posed no problems at all,” said a participant.

No doubt, persons who live by the trans-West African highway were very excited to see the cyclists ride past. They cheered and even used buckets to splash them with water to ‘cool down’.

Since 1975, when the 15-member ECOWAS was incepted, leaders in the sub-region, at various times, have explored ways of enhancing the region’s trade, movement of its people and adopting a common currency and passport.

Towards achieving these objectives, agencies and commissions were set up, among them, the YSC, which is based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Since its inception, the YSC has held the first ECOWAS games as well as the first edition of the cycling tour.

The just concluded 2nd cycling tour was conducted in four stages and covered a distance of 450 kilometres across five countries. The four stages were Lagos to Cotonou, Cotonou to Lome, Ada to Accra and Abuaso to Abidjan.

On the whole, 66 cyclists from 14 West African countries competed, while 184 game officials, including coaches and referees, were also on hand.

Only Cape Verde did not take part in the tournament because the country did not have any organised professional body for the cycling sport.

A total of 49 cyclists finished the competition. Nine were disqualified, while the rest pulled out on grounds of ill health.

Bourkina Faso emerged tops as three of its cyclists, Rasmane Quedraogo, Seydou Bamogo and Oumarou Minoungou, swept the three leading positions.

Quedraogo, 24, won the first place with cumulative 104 points; while Bamogo, winner of the first stage from Lagos to Cotonou, notched up 94 points to come second. Minougou posted 86 points to clinch the third position.

An elated Quedraogo could not contain his excitement soon after he was declared the champion in Abidjan!

“The country invested so much in me. I have been in Switzerland training not just for this event but for other competitions.

“For us in Burkina Faso, cycling is like a religion,’’ he said.

Pressed further by journalists to know how his country’s team beat all its other rivals, Quedraogo said: “We tried to size up other countries’ riding skills and so, devised ‘means’ to counter them.

“I must say that our team spirit saw us through, as we were there for each other. For me, good team spirit did it for us.

“The tour was tough and competitive. We knew we would encounter obstacles like bad roads and strong winds but that propelled us to go all out,’’ he said.

Nigeria, however, did not make an impressive outing as its best win was Caleb Kalazibe, who had a cumulative 27 points to claim the 13th spot.

His team mates, Qodiri Ajibade, placed 16th with 19 points, while Samuel Eyo, had four points to earn the 29th position.

In the general classification, however, Burkina Faso came first; Cote d’Ivoire came second, while Senegal came third. Ghana and Mali placed fourth and fifth respectively, while Nigeria clinched the sixth position.

The Nigerian participants were not happy with their poor performance, which they blamed on poor and late preparations for the games.

Ajibade Qodiri lamented that the Nigerian team did not adequately prepare for the competition as the Bourkinabes did.

Edward Osim, on his part, said that the Nigerian Cycling Federation failed to support them through a well-coordinated camping programme.

Osim’s team mate, Caleb Kalazibe, supported his viewpoint, insisting that there was no way they could have measured up to the Bourkinabes who, for instance, had done a lot of pro-tours to prepare for the championships.

But for Nelson Okon, taking part in the tour had been an eye-opener as he had learnt a lot from the Burkinabes.

Njoaguani, a Nigerian, described the championship as a learning process to help build the game in the sub-region.

“It’s been a learning experience for me as a person as well as the ECOWAS Youth and Sports Development Centre as a whole. We are only in the second edition of the game.

“We had the first one and we have tried to improve on this second edition; not just improving but going beyond the limits of the first edition.

“We have been able to demonstrate free movement of people across the region; bringing people together, athletes and officials from 14 member-states, to work towards a single objective.’’

Njoaguani, however, has bigger ambitions for the regional championships, saying specifically that in the next edition, no nation would be excluded while the race would transcend the borders of five countries.

“I want to see that all the 15 member-states of ECOWAS take part in the tournament. This year, Cape Verde was unable to take part because it does not have a well-developed professional body.

“We are going to see how we can encourage the country to have the body, so that in the next edition, we shall have all the 15 nations participating.

The ultimate, he said, would be to elevate the championship for recognition by the World Cycling body,  UCL.

“My ultimate objective is to try and get it to the level of an international cycling event that will be recognised by the UCL; while preparing it to become a biennial event,’’ Njoaguani said.

He appealed for sponsorship for the cycling tour from corporate organisations and governments, so that the logistic arrangements for the tournament would be improved upon.

By the projection of the YSC, the second edition of ECOWAS Games will hold in Ghana sometime in the year.

No doubt, the various games organised by the YSC for West Africa countries are serving a unique purpose of enhancing peaceful coexistence among the peoples of the region.

It is, therefore, imperative for the governments of West African countries and the private sector to collaborate to ensure the sustenance of YSC’s programmes to foster regional peace.

Peter Ejiofor   writer for  News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Peter Ejiofor