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Our sports fared better in 1980s, 90s than now, Porbeni affirms

By Gowon Akpodonor
01 October 2015   |   11:20 pm
Former national hurdler, Coach Seigha Porbeni, says the nation’s sports sector has been going down gradually, but steadily since the 90s.

Seigha-PorbeniFormer national hurdler, Coach Seigha Porbeni, says the nation’s sports sector has been going down gradually, but steadily since the 90s.

Over the decades, sports has brought glory and honour to the country in events such as boxing, track and field, tennis, weightlifting and football, but the achievements were never sustained.

Speaking with The Guardian on Wednesday, Porbeni, a former Director of Sports in Delta State, said unless urgent steps were taken to arrest the situation, Nigeria’s sports would fall to all time low in the next few years.
“Sports is what really makes Nigeria what it is today,” Porbeni said. “But it is so sad to see the sector ‘crawling’ like a baby.

In those good old days of our sports, when you travelled outside Nigeria, people would be telling you at the airport that they know Austin Okocha, Mary Onyali, Nwankwo Kanu, Chidi Imoh, Innocent Egunike etc. Who will they mention today? None.
“The reason for the downward trend in our sports in very simple. Nigeria no longer run sports professionally the way it used to be.
To be sincere, our sports was far better in the days of Isaac Akioye than it is now. Then, every sports association had a head coach unlike the situation today. I was the assistant coach to George Dibia in athletics in 1979 preparatory to 1980 Olympic Games. Then, before an athlete or player entered the national camp, a box full of kits was ready with his or her name written on top.

The athletes had quality training shoes and they were sure of eating good meal after training. Also, payment of camp allowances was regular. But things have gone from bad to worse in our sports,” Porbeni stated.

Speaking further, the ex-hurdler asked: “Apart from football, how many sports federations have head coaches at the moment? There is none. In Akioye’s era, all the sports associations had head coaches and things were so organised then.

Today, athletes and players don’t have good training kits and in most cases, they are not paid their camp allowances after taking part in competitions. I won’t blame the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) for the bad situation we have found ourselves because it can’t handle it alone. It is always the case of no money from the Sports Ministry all the time and it is not helping matters,” Porbeni stated.

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