The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for Sports (NIS) , Comrade Philip Shaibu says Nigeria can become a Sports destination if stakeholders will deliberately work in unison
He made the assertion in Rabat, Morocco shortly after Nigeria’s 4-2 penalty loss to the host Nations in the semifinal of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations.
Shaibu encourage Nigerian Sports administrators to take a cue from what Morocco has achieved in recent times following their investments in sporting infrastructure.
According to him “I think we leaders in Nigeria, myself inclusive, should, with deliberate effort, know that traveling is also education.
When we travel to places like this, we should also copy the good things we see and bring them to Nigeria.”
”Well, I think Morocco has gone very far, very, very far. Morocco is setting the pace in Africa now. When we went to South Africa for the World Cup in 2010, I thought South Africa was there, but with the kind of facility that I see in Morocco.
He stated that “From when we came for the WAFCON till now, I can tell you that there’s a deliberate effort by Morocco to conquer Africa, and to also involve the world as far as sport is concerned in the world. Because in Rabat, for instance, the stadium we played our World Cup qualifier is different from what we played the semi final*
Shaibu added “I thought that was the best, until, I saw that where we played the last time was just a tip of the iceberg, compared to the stadium we played Algeria. Morocco does seem to be a country in Africa, the infrastructure that I saw. It took us less than 30 minutes to get out of the stadium, even with that crowd, the infrastructure around the stadium, road infrastructure and control was marvelous. So we have a long way to go.”
The DG/CEO who commended the President Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration for having the vision of sports infrastructure pointed out that past sports administrators failed in their duties to maintain or even utilize facilities available in Nigeria.
The former Edo state Deputy Governor said “I will blame past sports administrators and leaders that have been treating sport with kids’ role. Because, for instance, I will thank President Obasanjo, for building the Moshood Abiola International stadium in Abuja. When you check that stadium facility, and what is in that environment, you see that there was a president that also wanted to do what the Moroccans are doing now. But was it sustainable? No.
We built that kind of edifice in Nigeria but go there today, it’s rats and lizards and religious crusades that are taking over that stadium. Not sporting activities.”
Comrade Shaibu also condemned the unpatriotic behaviour of some Nigerians during the semifinal clash against Morocco. He pointed out that some Nigeria sold their patriotism for money by the way of reselling match tickets allocated to them to opposing fans.
”For instance, I was told that match tickets that were given to Nigerians were resold to Moroccans. Whereas we needed the support of those Nigerians but they decided to collect the ticket and stay outside while Moroccans bought the tickets and supported their team. The noise level in that stadium can confuse any player no matter how professional you are.
We Nigerians also need change of attitude towards the infrastructure itself because what we are saying in Morocco is only possible in Nigeria, if all of us beyond the leadership decide to say we actually want a Nigeria that is supposed to be the number sporting destination.”