18th November 2024, NewsOrient, Opinion, Column, Sports, News
By Ikeddy ISIGUZO

HAVE you heard the latest claims that a flawed National Sports Commission is better than a Ministry of Sports? There are no limits to ends we travel to justify illegalities, absurdities, and a tending national culture of excellence in doing things badly.

The national propensity to do things illegally is readily available to those who dare match their fancy with action.
Welcome to the National Sports Commission, NSC, which has been set up without a law. A lawless organisation has been granted access to federal funds approved for the Federal Ministry of Sports. Everyone in the National Assembly knows about this illegality, but would not say anything.

Who set up the Commission without a law? President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has just done that. The army of clappers has filled the air with shouts of joy for the new impetus for sports though the ruse is obvious.

How are appointments to NSC made? What qualifies the appointees? Under what law would they be held responsible for acting on behalf of Nigerians?

When the NSC Chairman was appointed, I congratulated him. I even called him on phone. I apologise for my mistake. The law should have been in place before his appointment.

The Ministry running a few more months, for the NSC law to be sorted out, would not have done eternal damage to our sports. Nobody knows what the current contraption is meant to achieve.

Debates about such a Commission were on when days ago the President firmed up the contraption with the appointment of the Director-General of NSC. Both appointments are illegal because there is no NSC. Could the confusion be the administration’s way of prioritising the unimportance of sports?

Kenya is exploring the 160-page African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, agreement to “expand its sports industry”. A top government official announced that, “By reducing trade barriers, we can encourage cross-border collaboration, creating more platforms for Kenyan athletes, sports organisations, and even fans to engage with their counterparts across Africa.”

Can illegal organisations like NSC be part of AfCFTA? Unlikely.

The President cannot pronounce NSC into existence. A law is needed. Federal funds cannot be expended by people unknown to the law. There should be a limit to our lawlessness. Or should there be?

An organisation called the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, has been illegally running Nigeria’s football for 20 years. Some people got ambitious changed the name from Nigeria Football Association solely for them to determine what to do with Nigeria’s football and its resources. They manage federal funds that are appropriated for Nigeria Football Association, which according to them does not exist. They claim they are a private organisation.

Imagine a private organisation that spends billions of public funds without responsibility or accountability to anyone.

NFF takes public funds, gets funding from CAF, FIFA and sponsors. Any suggestions that NFF should be accountable to Nigerians, whose money it spends, are met with wooly assertions that FIFA finds accountability offensive.

Our football federation must be different from FIFA and CAF that swept their corruption officials away. Are the other African countries that are cleaning up their federations not members of FIFA and CAF?

At a joint public hearing of the Senate and House of Representatives Sports Committees in 2010, conversations veered to corruption in football. I accused both Committees of being responsible for the corruption. My point was that the Committees supported the corruption by approving money for a legal body NFA, and handing it to an illegal body, NFF, to spend, knowing fully well that they would not ask an illegal body to account.

Everyone appeared stunned. You would think a mistake had been unearthed. NFF still spends approvals made for NFA.
There is no end to the illegalities. The new NSC is merely joining the ride. There may be other illegal Commissions in other sectors of our polity but they are not enough excuse to promote illegalities with pomp.

Justice Donatus U. Okorowo of the Abuja High Court declared the NFF illegal in 2010 while delivering the judgment in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/179/2010. He clearly stated, ”As set out in the early part of this judgment, the Nigeria Football Association was established under Section 1 of the Nigeria Football Association Act as a body corporate with perpetual succession and common seal with power to sue and be sued.

”By these provisions, it is the only body recognised by Nigerian Law to manage football. The Law did not make reference to it as Nigeria Football Federation. The name under which it is charged to manage football under the Law is Nigeria Football Association. It has no power to address itself as Nigeria Football Federation. And the document titled Nigeria Football Federation Statute, which purports to confer the name Nigeria Football Federation to Nigeria Football Association is not a codified Law under the Laws of Federation of Nigeria. It is therefore illegal for the Nigeria Football Association to answer another name other than the name by which it is created as a legal entity.”

The Okorowo judgment still stands. NFF is standing stronger, more illegal with the years. If NFF can be above the law why not NSC to which NFF should be a parastatal?

As the heat rose over Justice Okorowo’s judgement, the Federal Ministry of Sports, which connives with NFF to sustain the illegalities, sought clarification from the Federal Ministry of Justice.

In a letter dated 2 June 2011, addressed to the Director-General, National Sports Commission, the Federal Ministry of Justice elaborately affirmed that NFF was unknown to the laws of Nigeria.

“The Nigeria Football Association Act 1990 (aka Decree 101) has neither been repealed nor amended, it remains the valid legal instrument for the administration of football in Nigeria.

“In the light of the above recognition of the private status of the NFF, the ordinary implication is that the body is not entitled to the receipt of statutory allocations from the Federal Government.

“As a ‘private association’, the NFF is entitled to raise funds as averred in paragraph 3(vi) of the affidavit for its operations in line with relevant FIFA regulations. However, except the government decides to give grants-in-aid to the federation in the national interest, there will be no legal basis for the NFF to draw funds from the government for its activities.

“The present situation suggests that the structure for the administration of football in Nigeria at the moment is legally unwieldy as the NFA, which is statutorily recognised is non-functional, while the NFF, which is not a creation of our laws, is from all indications running football in the country and receiving public funds albeit unconstitutionally,” the Ministry concluded.

Nothing changed. NFF is still running football illegally and government officials and agencies relate extensively with an illegal body.

Based on the clarification of the Ministry of Justice, NFF’s illegal access to public funds was blocked for four months. There was bedlam. NFF got the money.

There has been no inclination to obey the judgement since then.

As we cling to any shreds of hope, the President can effect legitimacy of the two organisations. There are no complications in making them legal: the National Sports Commission should be enacted by law and not pretence, then NFF has to be structured to be legal enough to spend public funds.

Finally…
THE Presiding Bishop of God’s Command Ministry Inc., Rt. Revd. Dr Felicia Ileleji (JP+), has said that the challenges Nigeria faces are caused by Nigeria’s hosting of the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC 77) 47 years ago when foreign gods brought to Nigeria were not taken back to their bases.

Her proposed solution of prayers, more prayers falls into a crowded field. She may not be accommodated.

ISIGUZO is a major commentator on minor issues

~ NewsOrient

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