Enthusiast Calls For Rivers Sports Council Autonomy

In order to fully explore the sports potentials in Rivers State especially, at the grassroots level, a sports enthusiast and former Captain of Port Harcourt club, Tennis Section, Mr. Emmanuel Obiora has called on the state government to grant full autonomy to the states Sports Council.
According to Obiora, the bureaucracy that is enmeshed in the procedure of the sports Ministry tends to slow down the activities of the sports council, and the Council can only be free to go the extra mile if it is cut off from the apron strings of the Ministry.
In addition, he said that with the autonomy, the Sports Council would have no excuse for failure and would be fully responsible for not meeting set objectives.
The former tennis Captain who spoke with Tidesports on Monday believes that undue administrative bottleneck on the part of the Ministry, especially, in releasing funds, focusing on developmental programmes and proper preparations before major competitions have been responsible for setbacks and failures in competitions.
He noted that Sports Councils are supposed to be working ceaselessly in and out of seasons but the reverse seem to be the case under the current scenario in which the Ministry calls the shots.
Obiora further stated that for the state to bounce back and regain its leading position in Sports, technocrats and seasoned professionals must be put in key positions of sports administration. Such technocrats would formulate blue prints and follow them to ensure proper planning and execution.
He also called for the provision of facilities and equipment to help fish out budding talents as sports have become a lucrative industry that can provide employment for the youth.
He noted that talents with great potentials about in the state but lack of vision and poor management approach have affected their development.

Gabriel Nwanetanya/Collins Barasimeye