Twenty year old Emerald Malia left Asaba with high hopes to the U18/20 Confederation of African Athletics Championship which ended last weekend in Abeokuta. The Delta girl had conquered all in the Youth games in Ilorin and Asaba, winning gold medals until her first international contest among 43 African Countries.
As usual, she had travelled to the team’s camp in Lagos suburb, Redeem village with the “Okrika “ canvas shoe bought from Ogbeogonogo market thinking it was business as usual. She had defeated all her opponents in shot put in Ilorin and Asaba with this canvas. The contest in Abeokuta was not that of David and Goliath where the magic of a sling from David fell his enemy. This was a battle of power, brain and kits well adorned.
When eventually the contest began, Emerald during the warm up exercise used some minutes to admire the canvas of her opponents, for she had dreamt of buying it one day. However, she summed her courage because she had promised before departing Asaba to come up with the gold medal.
After the event, Emerald came third with a bronze medal, a no mean feat judging from the caliber of those that participated in the contest.
While ruminating over her inability to win the gold as the national anthem of her conqueror was rendered after the presentation of the medals, I ran into her and that was where she revealed to me that she would have won but for the okrika canvas bought from Ogbeogonogo market. According to her, it took her minutes to get herself together knowing fully well that her opponents wore the real canvas meant for shot put thrower. She knew this would give them an edge over her but she summoned her courage and God gave her bronze. Half bread they say is better than none. I asked her how much it would cost to buy the new foreign made canvas and she concluded that it would cost a meagre N150,000( One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira).
Upon hearing this I became sad and sadder when the Director General of the National Sports Commission, Chief Olakpade at the closing ceremony declared that Nigeria would dethrone the eventual overall winner, South Africa in Algiers in 2027.
I laughed at his statement and concluded that from what I observed on the side of the South Africans, it would be difficult for us to beat them in Athletics. I repeat, it may not happen in this generation.
Reasons adduced for my submission as a result of my close ties with the South Africans in Abeokuta ranges from corruption to so many things.
First and foremost, the South Africans know exactly what they are doing. Unlike Nigeria, they have been in the camp for over three months preparing for this tournament while Nigeria spent 5 days out of the 9 days in the camp. The remaining days were that of arrival, Sunday and departure for the tournament. When the South Africans arrived the Redeem accommodation meant for the athletes, they evacuated their athletes and kept them in the same hotel where the President of Confederation of African Athletics stayed. As far as they are concerned, no second hand citizen in South Africa. They are all the same and the hotel was a stone throw to the MKO Abiola Sports arena . Their officials made private arrangements for their transportation and were well fed. Their Nigerian counterparts like Emerald were in the games village provided by the National sports Commission , When the news came that the athletes were complaining of food, the President of Athletics Federation of Nigeria(AFN) Chief Tonobok Okowa had to arrange with his money to provide dinner for them, such is the gory tale of our athletes. The coaches too were not left out as they were paid 50,000 Naira at the end of the tournament when they spent more than that for transport fare.
Furthermore, the state of our facilities is nothing to write home about. Whereas South Africa can boast of more than 5 high performance centers, the only one available in PortHarcourt is not functioning well. As people will say” who do us in this country “ with all the billions voted for sports at the federal level. The inability of Nigeria to at least have high performance Centre is a big minus to our athletes. You can imagine what will happen if you take the likes of Emerald yo a place like this. From available recorded, only four stadia can host a certified athletics competition in the country. They are Asaba, Benin, Uyo and Abuja. Any other one is a counterfeit, apology to Warri People.
The economic situation which is not table is not helping matters. Whereas the South Africans do not see any need to “ japa” to America, our athletes are doing everything to get out of this country called Nigeria. Thus, when there is a competition like this, it becomes a problem to monitor and bring them home to compete. Any attempt to bring them will take millions from the pocket of those in charge. In Abeokuta, only four US based Nigerians were able to make it and they all won gold medals. The South Africans came with a full house, intimidating others with their presence.
The results is that in Abeokuta, while the South Africans have over 30 Gold medals, Nigeria can only boast of 11. This is something that requires urgent attention.
We must change our attitude towards the welfare of our athletes and Coaches. We must change our fire brigade approach, do less talking and more action. We must reduce the level of corruption in the sports sector and call a spade a spade. We must at the same time think of how to establish high performance Centres in each region to cater for athletes that abound in all the nooks and crannies of the country.
Above all, we must place merit above all other things and choose the best to do the right things. Then, we may get closer to the South Africans.
