National Institute for Sports (NIS) Director-General, Prof. Adewale Morounkola, has explained his determination to reposition the school as the flagship of sports education in Nigeria.

The new director general, who is barely six months in office, believes that with concerted efforts, NIS will return to its position as West Africa’s number one sports training institute.

Speaking during a courtesy visit to The Guardian on Thursday, March 10, 2022, Morounkola said everybody associated with NIS, including students, lecturers and other members of staff, have renewed commitment to resuscitate the institute, which has become a shadow of itself.

“When I came in September 2021, we started doing the little we could with the fund available to us. But I am glad the minister understands the situation, and so, he has given me the mandate to reposition the institute.

“However, to give the deliverables expected of me, NIS must be treated as a tertiary institution because part of the problem is that it is neither a civil service nor a tertiary institution.

“When I got to the institute, I discovered that the staff got trained on a regular basis, but research was nothing to write home about. I couldn’t find any research done before my appointment. But now, we have done two types of research.”

He described research as essential to sports development, adding that NIS has to do more to reach its desired goal.

“I was proof reading what a worker did and I saw that at the last Youth Games, most of the young athletes aimed to become future sports journalists. The nation is organising the Youth Games to search for next generation of athletes, but to my surprise, the least of their desires was to become state athletes, national and international athletes.

“We asked further what they don’t like about participating in athletics and they complained of poor officiating. So, with all the money being spent, there is a need for sports education.”

He also listed facilities upgrade as one of his priorities, saying that NIS was moribund before he assumed office.

“When I came in, the environment was such that urine odour was perceived around the buildings. Now, the environment has changed, but we still have the problem of space and poor funding. We are working with the little resources we have to create the new face of NIS and it is no longer business as usual.”

Morounkola revealed that the institute has been able to accredit some of its courses, adding that it took his administration less than three months to achieve that feat.

“We have National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) courses and by God’s grace, two of our courses have been accredited by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). We have also started admitting students through JAMB.”

The former university lecturer described poor leadership as one of the problems that held NIS down, adding that gradually, the staff of the school has started appreciating what he has been doing.

“As a University professor, I had the opportunity to go round to accredit Physical and Health Education programmes in universities and I have never seen the kind of equipment we have in NIS in any university. The equipment is massive, but the problem was that civil service aspect of staff, the culture of expecting salary, whether the work is done or not, and because no academic culture is embedded even in the promotion of staff.”

On his visit to The Guardian, Morounkola said it was aimed at enlightening stakeholders on the current state of NIS and the programme aimed at rebranding the institute.

“For people to know what we are doing, we decided to visit the flagship of Nigerian media and I am excited to be here.

“In academia, The Guardian is well respected and over the years, I have discovered that what comes out of The Guardian is not speculative… it is deep investigative journalism and saying it as it should be and we are asking for more cooperation as we move forward.

“At the NIS, you will find some things Nigerians have forgotten that they have… valuable materials that nobody cares to know what is there. So, we have opened up the places.

In fact, some of the equipment, if we have to buy them today, will cost 50 times the amount Nigeria paid to acquire them.”