 |
| Hon S C Dalung |
A
profile in courage: The stewardship of Barrister Solomon Selcap Dalung from
November 2015 – May 2019
By
Nneka Ikem Anibeze
The story is told of the proverbial agama
lizard, which fell from an Iroko tree. It looked around and when no one
applauded the feat, simply nodded its
head in self affirmation and praise for successfully landing on its
belly from such great heights without an injury. So were the exploits of
Barrister Solomon Selcap Dalung, the immediate past Minister of Youth and
Sports Development from November 11,
2015 to May 28, 2019.
When he arrived at the Ministry on the day
he was scheduled to assume office, some onlookers, including the so called
‘stakeholders’ already had a mindset about this ‘intruder’ who had come to lord
it over them dressed in annoying Khaki and red beret. Though people were of the
opinion that he was not ‘one of them’ as he neither read Sports management nor
Physical Education and therefore knew nothing about sports administration.
Notwithstanding, Barrister Dalung, amidst heavy barrages of abuse, stiff
opposition, monstrous criticism and total condemnation in everything he did
quietly but steadily trudged on. How he peacefully slept at night with a
heavyweight of insults from the public (mostly for no reason but his dressing)
still beats students of cynical journalism.
One of the wonders of Nigeria’s sports
history was the rehabilitation of the Swimming pool at the National Stadium
which hitherto was a breeding pond for reptiles. That swimming pool had not
been used in 20 years before the arrival of the President Muhammadu Buhari
administration. Barrister Dalung studied the books and gave a deadline to the
contractor. In less than a year, the pool was commissioned and is the only
Federal Government owned swimming pool in Lagos till date. Before the
renovation, swimmers had nowhere to train in Lagos except other private and
state owned pools which denied users unhindered access for maximum benefit..
Under the Ministerial supervision of
Barrister Dalung, the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development started and
completed 3 Mini stadia in Dawakin Kudu, Kano State, Daura, Katsina State and
Mabudi in Plateau State. I humbly ask, when last was a mini Stadium or playground constructed by any
administration? When the Minister came into office, there were several
abandoned projects in the Sports Ministry as in other Ministries. The National
Youth Games introduced by a former Minister in 2012 was abandoned until Dalung
came into office in 2015. Worse still, was the National Sports Festival which
last took place too in 2012.
With a budget of N9m, Barrister Dalung went
cap in hand from one State to the other to appeal to State Governors, Community
and Church leaders to donate to the revival of the National Youth Games which
was eventually recorded enormous success. Over 250 young athletes were
discovered in the 2016 and 2017 editions of the National Youth Games and over
300 in the 2018 edition. Ever since, the Youth Games has been sustained by the
Ministry. That 17 of the young athletes discovered from it represented the
country at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina where they won 1 gold and 3
silver medals further confirms Barrister Dalung’s foresight and dogged leadership
style. These 17 athletes now form the core of the new generation athletes
emerging from almost all the sports.
Following the back and forward posture of
Cross River State who got the rights to host the the National Sports Festival,
the platform for discovering budding new athletes but was also abandoned since
2014. It wasn’t until Barrister Dalung appeared on the scene that the 6 year
jinx was broken! The Ministry organized a successful 19th edition tagged “Abuja
2019” where business boomed at the Abuja National Stadium, now Moshood Abiola
Stadium, for the 10-day period of the festival.
According to Barrister Dalung, following
the successful hosting of the National Sports Festival, Sports contributed to
the country’s Gross Domestic Product GDP during the period of the festival
which lasted 10 days. During the period, wealth was distributed. Over 500
athletes were made instant millionaires by their various States by virtue of
the medals they won. Dalung is also of the strong opinion that the GDP report
produced by the National Bureau of Statistics for the last quarter of 2018
then, would have discovered a 0.2% or
0.3% steady growth as a contribution from sports from the National Sports
Festival. The leadership of the Ministry of Youth and Sports from 2015-2019 can
assert that they made a significant contributions to the economic growth of the
country in 2018.
In 2017 came the real task or democratizing
the 42 National Sports Federations for efficiency, accountability and
professionalism. In the past, government handpicked five nominees in each
federation which result was always having wrong pegs in wrong holes. Dalung
ensured that the real stakeholders were given a level playing field to contest
for elective positions with Electoral Guidelines conducted by NOC and
supervised the Ministry.
Today, we are reaping the dividends of a
free, fair and transparent elections into the boards of the National
Federations. The Minister also ensured
that ‘sit tight’ syndrome was discarded
with all Federations directed to come up with their Constitutions which will
serve as a reference for future elections. Consequently, Nigeria emerged
African Champions in 9 sports including Women’s Football, Men’s Basketball,
Women’s Basketball, Volleyball, Badminton, Cricket, Wrestling, Para
powerlifting and Taekwondo. Under Barrister Dalung’s administration, Nigeria
became the first African country to qualify for the quarter finals of the FIBA Women’s World Cup in Spain in 2018 in
100 years. The D'Tigress who emerged African Champions in Mali then moved their
ranking from 32nd to 8th in the world. In 100years, Nigeria also qualified for
the ICC World World Cup. The U-20 Nigerian Cricket team defeated know African Cricket playing nations
to emerge African Champions and also book a ticket for World Cup in 2020.
In football, the Super Falcons won the 8th
and 9th editions of the African Women’s Football Championship AWCON in 2016 and
2018, maintaining their dominance as African Champions nine times. The Super
Falcons also qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup ongoing in France.
In 2018, the Super Eagles historically picked a ticket for the World Cup with a
match to spare and also became the first African country to qualify for the
FIFA World Cup in Russia. They also qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations in
Egypt having failed to qualify since 2012.
The Ministry ensured that intervention
funds were sought and released to Nigeria Football Federation for the Super
Eagles qualifiers for Russia 2018. While receiving the players in Aso Rock,
Captain of Super Eagles, Mikel Obi attested to the fact that this is the first
in contemporary football history that Super Eagles will be leaving for the
World Cup without any problems. Dalung also met a crises of the Samson Siasia
tutored U-23 team. They were owed camp allowances and match bonuses during 2016
Olympics qualifiers for Rio while Siasia hadn’t been paid for about 5 months.
Barrister Dalung ensured that the Ministry paid the players directly through
their bank accounts to avoid tempering with allowances of players as has been
the practice in the past.
In the same vein, Barrister Dalung ensured
that all athletes were financially rewarded for creditably representing the
country. For the first time, athletes got all their camp allowances in camp
while $5000, $3000 and $2000 respectively were given to athletes who won Gold,
Silver and Bronze during the Olympics and Commonwealth Games. Under his watch,
Nigeria became World Champions in Scrabble in 2015 and won it back to back in
2017. Nigeria holds an unchallenged World record in Para Powerlifting as
Nigeria’s women wrestlers are two time African Champions of the African
Wrestling Championship held last in Hammamet. The list of victories as a result
of the democratization of the National Sports Federations are numerous but
summarily, Nigeria won over 1,500 medals between 2015-2019, a record of none in
Nigeria’s sports history.
In the Youth sector, the Minister inherited
pockets of crises with over 6 youth presidents clamoring for the leadership of
the National Youth Council. Same crisis bedeviled the Scout Association of Nigeria which even led
to their ban and isolation by the World Scout body. When he came onboard, there
were various Scouting associations fighting for the soul of the association in
Nigeria. To God’s glory, he brought them all under one umbrella and today,
there is peace in the Scout Association of Nigeria with just one leadership.
Same is also applicable to the Nigeria
Youth Council. Only on May 24, 2019, National Youth Policy was reviewed and
launched in Akure Ondo State which hitherto was unattended to since 2012.
Similarly, the National Youth Parliament also was abandoned for 2 years was
revived. The 4th Session was inaugurated on the terminal date of Dalung’s
appointment as Minister on May 28, 2019. Over 1,500 youths were trained in
various states in different vocational skills and youth empowerment programs
with each youth given a start-up capital despite the Ministry’s poor budgetary
allocations for the programs. In partnership with ECOWAS, 20 youths were also trained in different
vocational skills in Benin Republic, Cote D’IVoire, Burkina Faso, Rwanda and
were also supported with start up capital.
These are a few of the modest achievements
of Barrister Dalung as Minister of Youth and Sports from November 2015- May
2019. If you don’t agree that Barrister Solomon SelcapDalung did his best with
the meagre budgetary allocations to the Ministry, then one will need to look
beyond rationality and normal parameters to determine the situation to suit
his/her objectives.
Anibeze is the SA
Media to the Immediate past Minister of Youth and Sports
Post a Comment