Tokyo Olympics: Ministry Shamed Nigeria – Dalung

The Federal Ministry of Sports has brought avoidable shame to the country through the disgraceful outing in the Tokyo Olympics, Mr Solomon Dalung, a former Minister of Sports has said.

Dalung who served as minister of youths and sports in the first term of the Muhammadu Buhari administration was at one time reckoned as one of the worst ministers of sports in the history of the country.

However, reviewing Nigeria’s outing at the Tokoyo Olympics, Dalung in an interview affirmed that the present leadership in the Ministry of Sports was responsible for the failures and the embarrassment that was brought to the country.

Nigeria ended the game with two medals, a silver and a bronze. The failure to win medals was compounded by the embarrassing gaffes that Nigeria found itself with lack of kits and the disqualification of several Nigerian athletes.

The cascade of embarrassments was climaxed by the decision of Puma, the sports wears company unilaterally abrogating the contract with Nigeria following the country’s reported failures to honour the agreements.

Dalung in an interview with Arise Television faulted the Ministry of Sports and particularly, his successor Sunday Dare over his dissolution of the boards of the sports federations within three months of the Tokyo Olympics. That decision, Dalung said was particularly disruptive.

“I think the dissolution of boards. It is a lack of patriotic political will to consolidate on the gains on the ground.

“When I was the minister, I continued from where my predecessor ended. When we get to the field, we built on previous successes and Nigeria did very well.

“Dissolving federations three months to Olympics is an indication that we are not prepared for Olympics. No general dissolves his troops on the eve of an attack and expect to win a war. The dissolved boards have trained and catered for the athletes for more than two years. Crises are part of human existence, the management is what determines the quality of leadership. I inherited many crises, but I resolved them,” Dalung said in his objection to the dissolution of the federations within three months of the Tokyo Olympics.

“Leadership is about taking responsibilities. When things go wrong, somebody has to be responsible. The entire drama of shame is avoidable. This is a shame that the country has found itself,” Dalung said in concluding the Ministry of Sports for the shame brought on Nigeria at the Tokyo Olympics.

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