2016 Olympics: Sports federations get 2-week ultimatum

The bodies are to submit their programmes and targets for the event Daily By Olorunwa Lawal The National Sports Commission (NSC) has given the various sports federations in the country a two-week ultimatum to submit their programmes and targets for the 2016 Olympics or get blacklisted. Giving the directive at a meeting with the sports federations' presidents and secretaries on Sunday, Bolaji Abdullahi, Chairman of the NSC and Minister of Sports, said he would set up a committee to monitor their programmes and target for the next four years. The NSC chairman vowed that any federation that did not meet its target would not be favoured in terms of planning and implementation for the 2016 Olympics scheduled for Brazil. The directive is coming at the heels of President Goodluck Jonathan’s order of a re-organisation after Team Nigeria’s disgraceful outing at the 2012 London Olympics. Dr. Jonathan Nnaji, President of the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), noted that the timing of the preparation was good, but expressed worry over poor funding and lack of facilities. "Give NSC and the federations the required funding; put them in a challenge and if they don’t give you result in four years time, then you can crucify anybody heading the place,’’ Nnaji said. "We have a minister who is intelligent and knows what to do but he wants to know some of the problems from the federations. One of the things is that we have to come back in two weeks' time with a developmental programme for four years and another one for Rio 2016.'' Dr. Patrick Uwagbale, Secretary General of Nigeria Amateur Boxing Federation, said that the body had drawn up a programme tagged "The Road Map to Rio 2016." He said the boxing federation would be ready to submit the programme to the minister in two weeks. “We are going to put all these things together to make sure no mistake is made, to make sure we achieve our projections,’’ Uwagbale said. Also speaking, Navy Capt. Omatseye Nesiama, Technical Director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), said that a programme known as “Project Rio 2016’’ had been designed to change the fortune of athletics in the country. According to him, the programme conceived in London, after Team Nigeria’s poor show at the Olympics, would come in two phases. "That project is going to involve coaches from the grassroots. It is going to be focused on developmental and performance aspect; we don’t want to mix up these two. If you want to achieve podium performance, there are certain things you need to do, and if you want to develop, there are certain things you need to do,” Nesiama said. “In the developmental aspect, we will take cognizance of our junior and youth athletes because they are the ones we are going to develop into the elite category. For the athletes already in the elite level, we are now going to focus on the performance aspect. These are the two programmes we are coming up with and Project Rio is going to take care of it.”