Ace broadcaster and former Director General of the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation, Mallam Danladi Bako, who is more noted with his exploits in sports in his journalism career spoke with Saturday Telegraph’s ADEKUNLE SALAMI on the poor run of Team Nigeria at the just concluded Paris 2024 Olympic Games among other sundry issues, including the state of football in Nigeria. Excerpts:
What is your overall evaluation of the 33rd Olympiad especially the opening ceremony in Paris?
The Opening Ceremony took us to another incredible level of creativity, theatrics and phantasmagoria all integrated into the biggest sporting event of the year 2024. We had seen Los Angeles Olympics 1984, Sydney 2000 and a few others that were first – class but Paris was simply magical. The use of the waterway of River Siene for Match Past of the athletes was a completely refreshing innovation. It was big, massive and breathtaking. Such idea has never happened before for the opening ceremony to take place outside the stadium. The organisers did marvelously well. It will remain a subject of discussion till the next games in Los Angeles.
How will you describe the performances of Team Nigeria despite the N12bn boost from the FG?
Very embarrassing. It was obvious we had not learnt from our failures of London 2012, Brazil 2016 and Tokyo 2020. The preparation from the federations was tepid, uninspiring and totally inadequate. The federations always rely on the Federal Government to provide funds for training, training tours and competitions which does not always happen. The federations don’t elect Chairmen who along with passion for the sport must have enough contact, goodwill, character and integrity to be able to raise funds for competitions, training camps, training tours and hiring of first class high performance coaches. This does not happen, indeed people get elected as Chairmen of federations as a status symbol and a personal societal achievement even if they know in their hearts they are not only incompetent but also devoid of capacity and capability. So, we go round in circles. The federations wait for handouts from the ministry and they know that the government funds certainly will not be enough to do the kinds of coaching and training you need over a period of 10 years to win an Olympic gold medal.
Can you tell us the problem areas for Team Nigeria at the games and your disappointments?
Our problems in Paris were numerous. We relied on Tobi Amusan (hurdles) and Blessing Oborodudu (Wrestling) for medals. Poor preparation saw our male 4x400m relay team disqualified for stepping out of the track lane allotted. But credit must be given to the valiant Female Basketball team for beating Australia and Canada to reach the quarterfinals where they lost to the eventual Champions the United States. I am disappointed that we can’t produce Olympic finalists in Male and Female relay teams for 4x100m and 4x400m. I am shocked that the boxing federation cannot find boxers, the swimming federation can’t produce swimmers from the huge talents available in the riverine areas of Nigeria.
How will you react to the string of crises in Team Nigeria camp? From drug case to missing name on the list, borrowed bicycle and unmatched cloth for an athlete at the closing ceremony….
The series of distractions and crises are the fault of Nigeria Olympic Committee who ideally takes custody of the athletes before the games and manage them throughout the games. The Athletics Federation is an affiliate of the Nigerian Olympic Committee, so they must be held accountable. Some people will say, the spirit of autonomy of federations would not encourage government to deal with officials that are culpable, I disagree. The investigation must be thorough and officials found complicit must face the music. Nigeria is a big country in the world of sports and when some people fail to do their jobs to put the entire country in ridicule at global stage, they must be dealt with accordingly.
How can the NOC and the federations get it right for the next Games at Los Angeles in 2028?
New elections, fresh new blood of passionate Chairmen and members for associations like Boxing, Athletics, Swimming, Judo and karate. The Chairman must be made to resign so the excuse can be rebuilt or the get forced out to make way for more competent sports administrators. They cannot always hide under the excuse of “no money”. If you don’t have capacity to raise complimentary funds in addition to the ones from government, leave the office and go home. It’s that simple. After personnel change, products of three Youth Games must be carefully nurtured by sending them to well recognized Universities where sports is given professional status and treatment. We must also build our own Afuze – like training camps – Swimming in Nigeria Delta , boxing camps in National stadium Lagos axis , sprints camp in the South East while long distance 400m, 800m , 1500m and 5000m training camps in Jos and Mambilla Plateau. Cap it up with the employment of high performance coaches especially in Athletics, swimming and boxing and pay them well.
As a core football person, what is your view about Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the male football event of the Olympics in the past three editions…
Our inability to qualify for the Olympics football event is so disheartening. We are Olympic gold medalist for heaven’s sake. It’s a major indictment on the Football Federation as a body. In saner climes, the President of the football federation would have had to resign after a half-hearted Nation’s Cup which we couldn’t win and not qualifying for the Olympics football event is a sign of lack of capacity and a major decline in our football.
The Super Eagles are walking a tight rope in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, do you think Nigeria can still qualify for the Mundial?
Very tough situation due largely to the lack of quality leadership at the Head of the football house. But I am always an optimist hoping we make the right decisions about choice of coach, coaching strategy, choice of players and type of inspiration and motivation from the Board. For now, the Board is totally uninspiring.
What is your advise for football and sports development generally in Nigeria?
We must encourage government to always select football aficionados and passionate sports gurus who are knowledgeable about not just sports but the undercurrents, the underbelly of sports politics and subterfuge that belies the sector as Sports Minister. There are so many ways such a Minister will anticipate sabotage, forestall corruption because he knows the areas money can be stolen, and he also knows the reputation of key elements in sports and their various antecedents so he can’t fail.
Over the years, there have been calls for sports policy. Do you believe in having a template to run sports?
Yes, the sports policy must be reviewed, revised and retooled for greater performance and more modern 21st century functional training schemes and more progressive sports development.