A big controversy has enveloped the sports scene over medals computations at the recently concluded Asaba 2022 National Sports Festival. There are claims and counterclaims over the computations of the medals table and this has seen Bayelsa State through its Commissioner for Sports, Daniel Igali, accuse the organisers of the games of allegedly ‘padding’ some states on the table.

He stated that the medals awarded to his state were well above what he had on record for his team. We recall Delta won 320 gold, 200 silver and 128 bronze medals to emerge overall champions but the question is how many gold medals were available at the start of the NSF? Bayelsa came second with 132 gold, 115 silver, and 90 bronze medals.

The fact is Delta had the best athletes and therefore it is no surprise it won; but how the padding allegation has blown up is a concern to many stakeholders in sports. Igali said: “I have men at all the centres and I cannot understand where they got the medals from. We did not win up to what the table reflected at the end of the games and if we do not stop things like this, it is a bad signal.” His candid admittance is a shock as the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri only last the week showered the medalwinning athletes with money for doing great in Asaba.

Rivers State also complained of medals table anomalies and so it was not a surprise that the Federal Ministry of Sports set up a committee headed by Brigadier Emmanuel Okaro to probe the medals table computations at the games. We appreciate the swift response of the Sunday Dare-led ministry to save the integrity of the games, just as much is expected from the Okaro committee.

A Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Ismaila Abubakar, stated that so much work was already done before bringing in the independent committee to evaluate the complaints about the computations of medals in Asaba. We make bold to say this is a very big issue which must not be allowed to affect the future of the games. The NSF is an avenue to identify talents and groom them for future challenges.

The likes of Tobi Amusan, Ese Brume, Divine Oduduru, Odunayo Adekuoroye, Blessing Oborodudu and Aruna Quadri are A grade Team Nigeria athletes today who are products of the Sports Festival. The games must not die but the mystery must be uncovered while those who are guilty of any involvement in the controversy must not go unpunished. Those who complained too must face the consequences if their claims were false. Already, Lagos has come out with its medal table stating that there was no padding in their overall placing. We expect more revelations in the days ahead while we wait for the Okaro committee’s report.

As Nigerians already look forward to the next games scheduled to be hosted by Ogun State next year, there must be a better template from the start to show the number of available medals in each of the sports disciplines and the overall medals expected at the games – just as is the case with the Olympics and so on. In all spheres of life, strange things happen in Nigeria. The average Nigerian is faced with many challenges in their day-to-day situations such that corruption reigns supreme in the operations of various issues they pass through every day. There are various examples to back up the moral decadence in the society.

In the past two months, petrol has sold for well above the official price in the country. While the government has fixed the price N169 per litre, many of the filling stations sell well above N250 per litre. A few sell at N170 per litre with long queues at such stations just as some filling stations in the northern and eastern parts also sell as high as N300 and above per litre. Till today, the struggle continues even though Nigeria is an oil producing country. Another example is the forthcoming General Elections in which getting the Permanent Voters’ Card (PVCs) has become a tough battle across all centres.

The situation was the same during the registration for the exercise but some people pay money to get it done easily. Some people wait for those who have it and they buy from them while during the election proper, it is also a common practice for politicians to induce some voters to achieve cash for votes. Sports, a sector where fair play is expected to prevail, is also having its own share of corrupt practices. We are aware elections into sports federations are not always on merit but all about the highest bidder. We recall the September 30 elections of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in which Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau emerged as winner.

It was reliably learnt that he won because he had more money to get the NFF Congress members on his side. Only last month, the NOC elections were also held and it was a narrow victory for Habu Gumel over Sani Ndanusa. It was not more about merit but the politicking as delegates laughed all the way to the bank after the polls. Going forward, there must be a better planning and logistics template for all competitions to avoid any controversy. For every multisport event, there should be a clear idea about the number of medals available. The NSF must not die; rather, we must get things right at all levels.

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