‘Two-man board is illegal’
Director General of the Nigeria Institute of Sports (NIS), Philip Shaibu, has urged the Federal Government to inaugurate the board of the National Sports Commission (NSC) without further delay to halt the steady slide in the country’s sports.
 
Speaking immediately after the Okpekpe International Road Race, where he featured in the VIP category, at the weekend, Shaibu said that it is a disservice to the country and its people to allow only two persons, the NSC Chairman, Shehu Dikko and the commission’s director general, Bukola Olopade, to decide the fate of millions of Nigerians over two years after the Federal Government appointed a board for the commission.
 
“I am a member of the board of the NSC, and that is why, consistently, I’m telling them, we need to constitute that board.
 
“Whatever they are doing there is completely illegal, so that board has to be constituted.
 
“If the board is constituted, I can bet you, you’ll see the turnaround of Nigerian sport. I am saying this because then all the board members will bring their wealth of experience and passion into one basket to make it work.”
 
Restating that President Bola Tinubu wants Nigeria to take its position as the number one destination for sports tourism, Shaibu said: “Now that we have a leader that is interested in sports, we should make the best use of the opportunity. 
 
“That is why I’m struggling, speaking out so that Nigeria will do the right thing. The board has to be constituted now.”
 
Shaibu is among many stakeholders that have been calling on President Tinubu to prevail on the NSC chairman to constitute the board as stated by law.
 
Earlier in the year, sports analyst, Saab Ikewuaku raised the alarm that the NSC is being administered as a one-person shop, with the officials taking “decisions that sometimes go against the interest of the country.”
 
He said: “A board that is meant to have representatives from different interest groups in sports has now become a corner shop where officials make decisions without consulting those who were expected to analyse critical decisions before their implementations.”