By Uzor Odigbo
Sequel to the landmark Supreme Court judgement on Local Government Autonomy, Sports Stakeholder and entrepreneur Hon. Ahmed Shuaibu Gara Gombe has recommended to the Federal government through the Federal Ministry of Sports Development to direct all Sports Federations to establish Local Councils Chapters in all the 774 local governments Areas to drive sports development.
He also recommended that should any federation fail to do so in six or eight months maximum, such federation must forfeit federal government grants.
Gara-Gombe averred that with full independence of Local Government Areas now entrenched and validated in the constitution, it has become absolutely necessary to take sports development seriously at the LGA level where it ought to have started and these proposed Council Chapters should drive it.
According to him “Sports Federations should start organizing local government competitions, even at States level, they don’t, they only believe in camping for qualifiers.”
In a press statement Gombe stated that “If you take Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) for instance, they don’t have grassroots Competitions and we have money in World AthIetics (WA) meant for grassroots Competitions and AthIetics development, they can’t access it owing to their insincerity and lack of transparency.
“Also, if you check the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as it is today, one of their contentious part is lack of good governance and respect for the rule of Law. The status provides that every local government should have Councils but because they have been manipulated by State government and local governments in the past, such rules are totally ignored.
“For instance, a Sports Officer of a LG would claim to be the Chairman of his football Council, someone who cannot tell you how many players that sit on the reserve bench during a football match as we have it in Gombe State.
“This is a time, we should rise and speak with one voice. Let’s go back to the local government and develop sports”.
The former Chairman of Gombe United Football Club and current boss of Gombe State Athletics Association pointed out that as the local Councils would be getting their grants directly from the federal Ministry of Sports, it is incumbent on them to use the funds to work for Sports development in villages and Communities around them.
He stated that countries all over the World start Sports development and talents hunt from their Local Council Chapters and not at the top as prevalent in Nigeria today.
“Primary and secondary schools should have open spaces for sports activities, this is the time to build sports facilities by Local government councils to grow Nigeria’s Sports from the grassroots.
“I was elated by the Supreme Court judgement making the local government Autonomy very Crystal clear. I believe the LG independence would engender sports development to pass through all local Councils.
“Sports chapters at the local Council level, when fully established, would take care of things previously neglected by the State and Local governments.”
