Former president of
the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, Dan Ngrem has warned that
Nigerian athletes might return home empty handed from the IAAF World
Championships in Moscow, Russia as the country’s elite athletes are not
managed effectively. He observed that the mistakes which led to a ‘medal
less’ outing of Team Nigeria at the London 2012 Olympics are 
being
repeated.
“The World Championships is just like the World Cup in football. Major athletics countries take it seriously, but where is our plan. Where is the AFN’s plan and where is the sports ministry’s plan? It is a pity that we have to be going through the same thing all the time. “If the sports ministry can source money for the NFF to pay footballers 10,000 dollars winning bonus, it should equally provide for the athletes. This will prevent them from running in all manners of meets and focus on the important events,” said Ngerem.
He lamented that Nigeria is again depending on Blessing Okagbare to win at least a medal at the World Championships even as he faulted the manner the athlete is being pampered. “It is very important we begin to think about developing athletes rather than hope on Okagbare all the time. For a big country like Nigeria, it is quite disturbing that we are pinning our hope on only one athlete.
“Even at that she is not well managed, how can she be running her legs out in Europe in a world championship year? And we are happy that she beat the world champion. But when it comes to the big event, she will not be able to put up her best.
“This is her chance to get a major medal, but how focused is she? Is she going to do the sprints or long jump? She should be concentrating on the area where she has a realistic chance. And the answer is not in pampering the athlete, but help her get her priorities right so that she can win gold,”he advised. He urged the AFN president, Solomon Ogba to move away from the path of trial and error and do the right thing. “Ogba needs to break away from the tradition of doing things his way.
He must ask people questions about difficult technical and administrative matters. During my time I argued with late A.K. Amu and when we failed to agree we called the IAAF to clarify the matter. Ogba, yes he is spending his money and energy, but we must do the right things that will bring positive results, Ngerem said.
He added that “Serious countries plan and execute a dynamic, functional and excellent all encompassing strategies many years and months ahead of any major world event and also proactively budget and fund the hygiene issues (training grants, scholarships, etc.) surrounding their elite athletes with prospects to win them medals “In a place like Nigeria, we do nothing and sometimes expect miracles and/or rest our hope on the much overused term ‘Nigerian spirit’ which, to my mind, is characterization of mediocrity, lack of planning and adequate strategy “In other words, elite athletes are left on their own and as a consequence, they will run as many races in the European circuit (as their managers can find for them) to make money with the result that when Nigeria need their services most of them would have burnt out out.”
being
repeated.“The World Championships is just like the World Cup in football. Major athletics countries take it seriously, but where is our plan. Where is the AFN’s plan and where is the sports ministry’s plan? It is a pity that we have to be going through the same thing all the time. “If the sports ministry can source money for the NFF to pay footballers 10,000 dollars winning bonus, it should equally provide for the athletes. This will prevent them from running in all manners of meets and focus on the important events,” said Ngerem.
He lamented that Nigeria is again depending on Blessing Okagbare to win at least a medal at the World Championships even as he faulted the manner the athlete is being pampered. “It is very important we begin to think about developing athletes rather than hope on Okagbare all the time. For a big country like Nigeria, it is quite disturbing that we are pinning our hope on only one athlete.
“Even at that she is not well managed, how can she be running her legs out in Europe in a world championship year? And we are happy that she beat the world champion. But when it comes to the big event, she will not be able to put up her best.
“This is her chance to get a major medal, but how focused is she? Is she going to do the sprints or long jump? She should be concentrating on the area where she has a realistic chance. And the answer is not in pampering the athlete, but help her get her priorities right so that she can win gold,”he advised. He urged the AFN president, Solomon Ogba to move away from the path of trial and error and do the right thing. “Ogba needs to break away from the tradition of doing things his way.
He must ask people questions about difficult technical and administrative matters. During my time I argued with late A.K. Amu and when we failed to agree we called the IAAF to clarify the matter. Ogba, yes he is spending his money and energy, but we must do the right things that will bring positive results, Ngerem said.
He added that “Serious countries plan and execute a dynamic, functional and excellent all encompassing strategies many years and months ahead of any major world event and also proactively budget and fund the hygiene issues (training grants, scholarships, etc.) surrounding their elite athletes with prospects to win them medals “In a place like Nigeria, we do nothing and sometimes expect miracles and/or rest our hope on the much overused term ‘Nigerian spirit’ which, to my mind, is characterization of mediocrity, lack of planning and adequate strategy “In other words, elite athletes are left on their own and as a consequence, they will run as many races in the European circuit (as their managers can find for them) to make money with the result that when Nigeria need their services most of them would have burnt out out.”
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