By Remi Adefulu

A former Director General  of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Gbenga Elegbeleye has put the blame for the shoddy treatment of the team at the doorsteps of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Baring his mind to Daily Sun Sports in Lagos, Elegbeleye who expressed sadness over the poor treatment of the victorious team during and after the event, accused the Sports Ministry of poor administration and management.

These two key issues he said were clearly ignored in the preparation of the team before and after the competition.

According to him, these could also be attributed to why Team Nigeria could not fly high at the Olympic Games.

Elegbeleye reasoned that had the sports ministry been adequately prepared, Nigeria would have done better after a good outing at the Commonwealth Games.

He reasoned that had the sports authorities been well organised, the controversy after the Falcons victory against the Cameroonians would not have emerged.

The former NSC Director General maintained that even the hoopla about the girls allowances was avoidable if those in charge had done their work properly.

“What the sports ministry should have done on arriving Nigeria was to have lodged the girls in a good hotel in Abuja and pay them their allowances.

“These girls made us proud and should be celebrated. There are hotels that we could have lodged the girls for some days and pay the hotel their money later, even it is a month after,” he opined.

Related News

Continuing, the former House of Representatives member stressed that the presidency should not be blamed for not hosting the girls.

He noted that the ideal thing would have been for the sports ministry to book a date for the president to receive the girls, which he observed was not done.

“The presidency is a very big and busy institution, so the ideal thing for the sports ministry would have been to book an appointment to host the Falcons, which was left undone.”

Speaking further, he explained that even the Cameroonian Female team which came second at the event has been hosted by President Paul Biya.

This, he said could not have been possible without good sports managers and administrators.

He stated that Nigeria was blessed with abundant talents, but needed those who can train and harness these talents for positive results.

Elegbeleye however observed that it was not mandatory for the government to bring back the NSC for this task.

He hinged this on the fact that government believed that it needed to reduce the cost of governance by using the sports ministry to run sports in the country.

According to him, what is most important is having a functional institution that can deliver on the mandate of giving Nigeria the best in sports and sports management.