By Emmanuel Onwubiko
Currently, I am battling to finish with the arduous task
of reading some key books I recently bought.
One of such books is the latest copy from Richard
Templar who is an award winning author in the Western world.
“The Rules of people” is such a fascinating book from
Richard Templar that tells so much about the different attributes of members of
the human race.
An interesting dimension of this easy to dissect book is
where the writer factually stated as follows: “Each of us is a unique
concoction of our genes, our upbringing, and our experiences. None of these
things are things we can change. And together these ingredients make us the
extraordinary, unique people we are today”.
The aforementioned evidential affirmation relates
exactly to our horizons as Nigerians just as the narratives perfectly lead us
to the conversations that this piece has set out to unleash.
It is a fact that Nigerians are a unique type of persons
who are enormously gifted in the different fields of human endeavors.
However, our collective experiences with the species and
character of persons who have held different decision and policy making
positions in government have shaped a disappointing but graphic picture of a
nation in serious need of the crop of leaders that would match words with
action.
We have had too many of our people in top positions at
both the national and bi-national levels whose actions whilst in offices have
fundamentally departed from the words they uttered to the hearing of all of us.
But it is not exactly in our gene to always be cursed
with a set of leaders that would not be bothered doing exactly what they say they
will do in the delivery of the mandates of their respective offices.
A couple of days back, President Muhammadu Buhari picked
about 43 Nigerians as ministers to form the executive council of the
federation.
The list has eventually turned out as a unique
concoction of the good, the bad and the ugly. It is a mixed bag.
Some persons who have secured top positions as ministers
are known to be persons of questionable characters who have skeletons in their
cupboards.
Sadly, there seems to be a total absence of forensic and
background checks to make sure that those who are holding these high positions
are men and women who have stood the test of time in their previous jobs.
Political calculations outweighed the desire for merit, competences and
professionalism which ought to have determined those to be made ministers.
Some of these ministers are known suspects of different
fraudulent schemes and some have indeed faced detention by the anti-graft
agencies.
But they are sitting pretty tight as cabinet level ministers.
So I ask, is it in our gene to reward criminality?
The response to the above poser is the topic for another
write up.
Suffice it to state that our focus today is on what the
new sports and youth minister Mr. Sunday Dare ought to do so as to meet up with
the expectations of millions of Nigerians who are waiting to see whether it
would be just business-as-usual as it were in the last four years which was the
first term of the current president who has been returned by Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) for a second and final four year tenure.
The last four years saw a minister of Youths and Sports that appeared
delusional and completely bereft of what constitute quality service delivery.
Right now the person on board on paper, looks like somebody who may have
something positive to offer.
Incidentally, Mr. Sunday Dare is a new wine in a new jug
or to put it differently, he is one of those in the current federal cabinet
that can be said not to have any known skeletons in his cupboard. To the
question if he is a square peg in a square hole, we need to watch out to see
how he unfolds his programmes for remaking the Sports and youth sector to
regain the pride of place and to project our youngsters as creative and
talented members of the human race in an increasingly sophisticated and
competitive World.
Sunday Akin Dare who is 53 is a journalist of Oyo state
origin and who is a well-known political son of the national leader of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu. As governor of Lagos state
Mr. Tinubu who groomed Sunday Dare is known to have developed sports to some
appreciable levels. Understandably, this minister of Youths development
and Sports started his job on high notes. He has begun by making some
significant oral commitments.
“I am excited to be here today. I thank the president,
Muhammadu Buhari for appointing me minister of youths and sports development of
our country. The work starts now, so let’s work together as a team”, he charged
his staff.
“Youth development is key to the success of any
government. We have youths, we have sports. Our mandate area is very clear. We
must broaden our horizons, we must deepen the work we do and quality of work we
bring to the table”.
"I am not unaware of the challenges, controversies
and development in this ministry. It’s a ministry that is dear to the hearts of
Nigerians. Beyond sports, there are other ways we can develop the youths. We
will be thinking outside the box”, he stressed.
Mr. Sunday Dare also promised to in his words, take
sports out of the back pages of newspapers to front pages with positive news.
The brief statements by the newly sworn in youths and
sports minister seem to capture the summation of the thematic mandates of the
ministry which are as follows: · To empower Nigerian youth to become self-reliant and
socially responsible; · To provide a sustainable framework for integrated
planning and collaboration among stakeholders for the development of policies
and programmes, laws and other initiatives that promote and enhance the
development of the Nigerian youth and the protection of their interests; · To establish a technically efficient institution,
equipped with the desired professional manpower, resources, right equipment and
well maintained facilities for sports development and participation, and; · To develop the sports sector to a world class level
where it would provide continuous improvement of quality of life for the entire
citizenry to the extent that Nigeria would be recognized as a leading sporting
country in the world.
The minister therefore needs to aggressively pursue
these goals and in doing so he needs to carry his team in the ministry along
and must eschew bitter rivalries, animosities, sycophancy and lack of
accountability. He has understandably pledged to partner constructively with
the media which ironically is his professional terrain.
For most Nigerians, the key to success as a minister is
elimination of nepotism, corruption, lack of accountability and the operation
of the ministry in an opaque fashion. He should be ready to answer questions
from Nigerians. He must open up the books for critical scrutiny and be ready to
defend his investments in the areas of Youths development and Sports and the
people must feel the practical impacts of his duties.
I must say that first and foremost, the minister of youths
development and sports should hit the ground running by reviving the pursuit
and discovery of local sports talents through the restoration of a place of
glory for school sports in all parts of Nigeria. He should put on board a
transparent reward system for excellence and merit to be recorded by the
Sporting youngsters in the varies fields of Sports.
There is the urgency of the now for Mr. Sunday Dare to
partner constructively with the ministries of youths and sports in all states
of Nigeria and Abuja so there is a national momentum that should drive the
re-introduction of series of sporting competitions at the grass roots, zonal
and national levels.
The state legislatures must be told to prioritize sports
and youths development even as those who should be involved in the governance
of all facets, aspects and segments of sports must be those who are passionate
and professionally committed to deliver excellent services for the growth and
advancements of local sports which will inevitably manifests in the emergence
of national and international sporting talents.
The minister needs to explore the developments of both
field and track sports just as there is the need for the private sector to be
actively involved in the running of ports because basically, all around the
world, sports have become multibillion dollars business.
The minister should work out the transparent strategy
for instilling discipline and sanity in the running of all the agencies and
bodies that coordinate the organization of sports in all its ramifications even
as there is the need to eliminate the problem of match fixing and poor
refereeing which are threatening the future of football at the local levels.
Too much of criminality and fraudulent activities have
happened in the administration of soccer in Nigeria.
It is time for all stakeholders to work towards
restoring financial discipline in the running of sports in all aspects so that
our sporting talents who are groomed and picked to represent Nigeria at
regional or international levels are properly cared for and not treated like
orphans.
The sports and youth development minister has promised
to look beyond the known routines and to explore other innovative ways of
developing the youths. This is a good step. How to do that is for his office to
stop the interferences of the central and state governments in the elections
into the different youth-led bodies because right now, those heading the
National council of youths are mere “house boys” of politicians.
The minister needs to map out strategies for skill and
vocational trainings of Nigerian youths so as to engage them in meaningful
activities and keep them away from crimes. The ministry should work
constructively with all the relevant social protection agencies in both the
private and public sectors to fully develop the youths and keep them away from
cybercrimes. He is lucky to have a Director General in the National Youths
Service Scheme (NYSC) who is a square peg in a square hole going by his public
pronouncements and actions. The NYSC is a critical factor in the skills
empowerment of Youths and these agenda in the NYSC must be sustained and
broadened.
These are the expectations of most Nigerians.
Watching the way hundreds of youths embark on risky
journeys through the Mediterranean seas to search for greener pastures and to
run away from the widespread insecurity in Nigeria, should worry the new
minister.
His job is surely cut out for him.
There is no time for frivolities, surely. The ball is on
his court.
*Emmanuel Onwubiko heads HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS
ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) and blogs @www.emmanuelonwubiko.com,www.
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