Awka: The National Sports Festival (NSF) has come and gone but its echo will continue to reverberate in the sports sectors of the five states of the southeastern part of the country for negative reasons. Stakeholders in sports have blamed lack of institutional support for sports and negligence on the part of governments for the abysmal performance of southeast states in the just-concluded fiesta.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the 22nd NSF held in Abeokuta, codenamed 'Gateway Games 2024,' ended with Delta retaining the top spot on the medals table for the third consecutive time. The NSF is the Nigerian version of the Olympics or All Africa Games. It is an open competition where states present their best athletes based at home and abroad to compete for glory, fame, and fortune. Delta State clinched the number one position with 126 gold, 100 silver, and 111 bronze medals, beating hosts Ogun and Bayelsa to the second and third place with 93 and 92 gold, 65 and 65 silver, and 80 and 72 bronze respectively.
The final medals table for the two weeks of exciting and competitive sports fiesta shows that none of the five southeast states made it to the top 10 on the log. The closest was Abia State, which finished 11th, after garnering 11 gold, 16 silver, and 39 bronze to make a total haul of 66 medals. Imo came second in the southeast but 16th on the overall table with four gold, six silver, and 28 bronze. Anambra came 20th with two gold, six silver, and 10 bronze while Enugu and Ebonyi finished 23rd and 28th positions with one gold apiece, seven and zero silver, and eight and two bronze medals respectively.
The five states jointly won 19 gold, 35 silver, and 87 bronze, finishing the festival with a cumulative 141 medals. This is inferior to the performance of 7th-place Lagos, which finished the games with 169 medals comprising 37 gold, 44 silver, and 88 bronze. The poor showing is not only loud but eloquent as only Imo State has made it to the top 10 in the last three games held in Edo in 2020, Delta in 2022, and recently Ogun.
Using gold as a yardstick, Abia and Ebonyi States improved slightly in 2024 over their 2022 performance with one additional gold each. However, Imo and Anambra failed to meet their previous records while Enugu, the next hosts, retained their one gold performance. This is contrary to the records of South-South states, which had maintained dominance of the festival with five of the six states making it among the top 10 in the last three consecutive games.
Victor Nwangwu, a veteran sports administrator, said the major challenge of sports in the Southeast was that governors of the states in the region did not accord priority to it. He emphasized the need for governors to come up with a welfare and reward system commensurate with the efforts of athletes and comparable to what is obtained elsewhere. He noted that poaching of athletes would continue as long as there were better offers elsewhere because the endgame in engaging in sports was to make ends meet.
Johnny Igboka, a former national athlete and coach, expressed sadness over the situation where coaches produce athletes only to lose them to other states due to poor welfare packages. Igboka highlighted the lack of organization and the need for administrators to tap into the experience of veteran sportsmen and women. He stressed the importance of trials in preparation for competitions and adequate care for athletes' welfare, training, and medication.
Ikem Asika, the Vice President of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Southeast Zone, noted that the region had lost its areas of strength such as track and field, handball, wrestling, boxing, hockey, and others. Asika called on the recently established Southeast Development Commission (SEDC) to take responsibility for reinventing sports in the region by developing a regional plan for sports revolution.
With one year to prepare for the games, stakeholders urge the Southeast states' governments and corporate entities to begin early mobilization of resources and talents if history will not repeat itself.