SWAN Urges President Tinubu to Intervene in NSC Board Inauguration

SWAN Urges President Tinubu to Intervene in NSC Board Inauguration

By Admin 

The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) has called on the National Sports Commission (NSC) to immediately inaugurate its 17-member governing board, warning that the prolonged delay is a breach of the Commission’s establishing law and a threat to transparent sports administration.

In a statement issued on Sunday by SWAN Secretary-General, Ambassador Ikenna Okonkwo, on behalf of the association’s President, Mr. Isaiah Benjamin, the body expressed concern that the NSC has been operating without a statutory board since its creation in October 2024 — contrary to provisions of the NSC Establishment Act 2023.

“As a statutory board member of the NSC, I am compelled to urge the Chairman and Director-General to take all necessary steps to inaugurate the board without further delay,” Benjamin said. “Operating without a duly constituted board for nearly a year is not only a breach of the law but also undermines transparency and accountability.”

Citing Section 2(1) of the Act, SWAN stressed that the board’s composition must include representatives from key stakeholders such as government ministries, sports bodies, the organised private sector, academia, the medical community, the military, persons with disabilities, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), the Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria (PFAN), and SWAN itself.

Benjamin warned that major decisions taken by the Commission since October 2024 lack legal legitimacy in the absence of the full board. He also linked the issue to wider governance challenges in Nigerian sports, including ongoing litigation involving the NFF and disputes over the Athletics Federation of Nigeria elections.

“The NSC cannot continue to function as a two-man entity — comprising only the Chairman and the Director-General — while 15 other constitutionally mandated positions remain unfilled,” he said. “This issue will remain on the front burner until the law is obeyed.”

SWAN also expressed dismay at the association’s marginalisation in critical areas of sports governance, particularly the hiring of skilled communication managers to oversee media operations in sports federations. The association argued that leveraging professional sports journalism would enhance publicity, attract sponsorship, and improve the digital marketability of Nigerian sports.

The statement further criticised the unilateral organisation of national and international sporting events without input from SWAN, describing it as counterproductive to the vision behind the establishment of the NSC.

“One of the major reasons why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved the creation of the National Sports Commission was to drive accelerated and holistic sports development in Nigeria,” the statement read. “The bureaucratic bottlenecks that hindered sports growth in the past should be history, yet political and non-professional approaches continue to dominate the Commission’s operations — and this is not the way forward.”