Nigerian sports needs overhaul: Minister
By IANSThursday, October 14, 2010
LAGOS - The Nigerian “sports industry needs a complete overhaul” despite an impressive performance in the Commonwealth Games at New Delhi, the country’s sports minister said.
Nigeria won 35 medals, including 11 golds and 10 silvers.
Ibrahim Bio, Nigeria’s minister of sports, while commending the medal-winning athletes, said that “the whole sports industry needs a complete overhaul because (it) is deteriorating”.
He regretted the cycle of greed and personal aggrandisement in Nigerian sports and added that it had affected planning.
“Its unfortunate that we place emphasis on money, The Punch newspaper quoted him as saying in New Delhi.
He added: One of the major problems of Nigerian sports today is that we have people who are interested in money rather than those who will add value to the system.
The minister said that “only athletes with the required standards were selected for the Commonwealth Games. We ensured that Nigeria participated in sports that we are sure of medals”.
The days of going to the big competitions with athletes who have not made the required international standards in their sports are over.
