Shehu Dikko: New Chairman National Sports Commission... A Cap That Truly Fits

Shehu Dikko: New Chairman National Sports Commission... A Cap That Truly Fits

By Micheal Obasi

Over the years, many respected Nigerians have been appointed to sensitive positions in Nigerian Sports, but oftentimes, many of these appointments have ended up being a case of " Putting a Round Peg In A Square Hole."

Because it sounds simple in the ears, the Sports Sector looks like one anybody can manage, but that has proven not to be the case as we have seen over the years.

Appointees come in without any thorough or minimal knowledge of the sector and at the end of the day, the Country's Sports suffered heavily for it.

This has been the sad story of Nigerian Sports before October 23rd, 2024, when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, appointed a seasoned Sports and Football guru, Mallam Shehu DIKKO to handle the affairs of Nigerian Sports.

President Tinubu achieved two important milestones on that very day, which will forever be remembered in the annals of Nigerian Sports.

The first one is the scrapping of the Ministry of Sports Development and replacing it with a Professional Parastatal, the National Sports Commission to manage, regulate and control Nigerian Sports.

The second one is the choice of Mallam Dikko as the Chairman of the new-look National Sports Commission. For many of us in Sports, those two decisions by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will go down as a landmark Presidential move that will reshape the trajectories of the Nation's Sports sector forever.

Nigerians have cried over the years that we need Technocrats to manage the country's sports, and those tears have finally yielded the needed result, with seasoned technocrats like Dikko now piloting the affairs of the country's sports.

Nigeria sports have suffered enough with the 'Trial by Errors' approach to achieving sporting success, despite all the natural talents and human population that characterised us as the biggest Black tribe in the World.

One must quickly emphasize that all the persons appointed to manage the country's sports over the years never wanted to fail or underperform, but the quality and know-how were simply not just there.

Many of them in the past came in and started learning on the job, and in the end, they found it very difficult to navigate a good template that can bring out the best in our Sport.

It is no surprise that congratulations have continued to pour in left, right and centre, following Shehu Dikko's appointment, even from the international sporting family.

They all know his vast qualities and what Nigeria's Sports will benefit from him as Chairman of the National Sports Commission. From the side of the Government, the Presidency now has an individual who will make their job easier in terms of helping to actualise genuine Growth in Sports Development, therefore achieving the Renewed Hope Mandate of the Government.

And from the Private Sector and the International Sporting communities, they have someone they can do business with, with utmost Trust and Integrity.