When last December 9, the Nigeria Olympic Committee NOC, was plunged into deep crises after the failed Annual General Meeting in Dutse, Jigawa State, a panel of three wise_men_ Rev. Dr. Moses Iloh, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima and Chief Olatokunboh Thomas, was set up to restore peace in the Olympic movement in Nigeria.

•Gen Williams: Making a point

However, Major General Ishola Williams (rtd), president Nigeria Baseball and Softball Association and former chairman, Handball Association of Nigeria who spoke extensively on sports issues in Nigeria to Sunday Vanguard Sports particularly returned a verdict that whatever recommendations from the panel  would not be binding on the members.

He has since been proved right as the NOC is still at cross_roads, with its election still pending. General Williams this time has spoken on the crisis in football, Lars Lagerback’s bogus salary and other matters.
Excerpts:

With a bogus salary splashed on Lars Lagerback, it was expected that other sports that cry of marginalisation and neglect would have taken their case right to the top in protest. How did you see the action of the NFA and the National Sports Commission, NSC to give that kind of money to a man at the expense of other sports?

But it appears that most Nigerians have accepted that other sports can die as long as football continues. Let them name any country in the world where it is the government that is supporting and funding football clubs to play in the National League.

Those of you who write and report sports should tell me. In Nigeria today, if the State governments pull away their football clubs, how many will remain in the league. So, what are we talking about? Secondly there seems to be a conspiracy between the National Sports Commission or the Ministry of Sports and the Presidency at anytime in using that as an opportunity to steal public money in saying that they are supporting football because all Nigerians love football.

You tell me all the competitions they have been going to, apart from the noise about Nigeria, what have we benefited _ economically or financially? All the competitions we   have been going to, including the sitting Minister carrying people to Angola who have nothing to do with football. He carried some presidents of sports Associations to Angola who have nothing to do with football. And this same man would not give them money to go to their own continental competition. Nigeria was the only country that had a Presidential Task Force for the Nations Cup, apart from the fact we have a Football Federation, same for the World Cup.

That is why it was possible for them to go and bring a “Miracle worker called a coach (Lagerback)” He is a miracle worker. What knowledge has that man got about African football and how many African players has he coached in all the teams that he has been with?

It’s good to put a  plan on paper for the different teams to be able to actualise that.  And as usual with different teams in Africa, the foreigner will use local coaches to help him do the job and collect the money. And like the case of Westerhof who started it all, they also used him to make money.

At what level should the blame go for what is happening?
There is corruption at the foundation of all this football madness. There is corruption. And it’s because they know Nigerians do not care about all these other sports. Whatever they spend on football they know that  Nigerians will accept it. And Nigerian administrators believe that if we win, don’t ask them about how much they have spent.

If we lose that’s the time Nigerians will start asking questions. Since we have been organising competitions, how many times have they come out with audited accounts of what was done and I will want them to get Private Auditors to audit accounts of what we have done in sports and publish these in the newspapers, including the recently done FIFA U_17 World Cup, Nigeria 2009.

They don’t care about this country anymore, they just use football to steal money. That’s what football is for. Even at state level, the Commissioners for sports, that’s what they do. And sometimes footballers say they are not paid yet money was released massively. And the kind of thing you hear is frightening, N300m, N800m . Some even carry bus load of supporters everywhere to justify the money being taken. Everywhere clubs go, they carry supporters and they put them in hotels. No! No!! No!!!. We are not running sports in this country.

We are not. What have we done,  we spend all the money on football. If FIFA is organising World Cup for mosquitoes, Nigeria will send a Mosquito team to participate with billions voted for that team. But for any other sport, nothing is given. The Youth Olympic Games will hold in the third quarter of this year, where are the preparations? We have even forgotten there is the Commonwealth Games. Where are the athletes?

The NSC say they have selected about six or seven sports including weightlifting, wrestling, table tennis, boxing, and Special Sports to participate in both the Youth Olympics and Commonwealth Games, in the belief that these few are where we have comparative advantage of winning medals. In your opinion, could this not be seen as a wise move rather than send too many sports and not win medals?

The NSC should be ashamed of themselves. When you look at a country like Egypt, how does Egypt get money to cover all sports and they participate in all. For any Games, Egypt will go in for almost all the sports. Name the sports, from rowing to canoeing, badminton, anyone. If they qualify, they will carry the team to the event, if they don’t qualify, they won’t go but they will put the team in place and wait for another opportunity. Is Egypt bigger than Nigeria? The NSC is an ill_ prepared organisation. Don’t mind them. And they have been carrying that legacy for a long time.

We know that all these Games are happening, tell me, when has the NSC come out with a plan showing these are programmes for the next four or five years.  Have they ever called a press conference at which they have said we have a four year programme?

Have they ever done that?  The other time, the NSC D-G said they were to hold a stakeholders conference on football in Nigeria. How many times have they held summits, meetings and workshops, panels and the like on sports developments? Where are the reports? When Sani Ndanusa came as Minister, they called a big conference in Abuja. They spent money in setting up a committee in which I was the chairman, what have they done with the report?

What have they done with past reports? At that meeting/conference which they voted a lot of money to organise, they appointed Ogbemudia to collate all the ideas.

What have they done with it, what have they done with all the ideas? Patrick Ekeji and Sani Ndanusa came and said they were concessioning sports federations, where are they now on that? Because people don’t ask questions They pretend they are concentrating attention on football. Was the D-G not among those looking for the coach, I mean the “Miracle worker”?