SWAN Patron Backs Jonathan’s Move To Restructure Sports

A patron of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria
(SWAN), Rivers Statre chapter, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has described the
decision of the President , Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to overhaul the Federal
Ministry of Sports as a welcomed development.

Chief Okonkwo, while reacting to Nigeria’s dismal
performance at the just-condluded London 2012 Olympics in an interview in Port
Harcourt yesterday said that the former crop of sports administrators did not
have the interest of the nation at heart but what they could gain at the
expense of the country.

He said that Team Nigeria disgraced the country at the
Olympics for not winning any shade of medal despite the huge amount of money
expended on them. He called for proven sports administrators to be given the
job of piloting the sector and made to tell the country what they could offer
no matter where they come from.

He called for the country to begin to prepare well for
competitions saying “let Nigeria imbibe the spirit and culture of early
preparations for any sporting competition and also ensure that modern
facilities and eguipment are provided for the athletes to excel like other
countries.”

“Nigeria as one of the oil producing countries in the world
should provide modern facilites for their sportsmen and women, so that we could
bounce back and occupy the position expected of the country in the sporting
world”, he said.

Chief Okonkwo, who is a sports philanthropist said he backed
president Jonathan in efforts to re-organise the national sports set up.