Why Barrister Solomon Dalung deserves to remain Nigerian Sports minister

Why Barrister Solomon Dalung deserves to remain Nigerian Sports minister By Dare Kuti Nigeria’s sports minster, Barrister Solomon Dalung on 11th November, 2015 was sworn in by President Muhammadu Buhari alongside 35 other ministers. Dalung hails from Langtang South Local Government Area of Plateau state. Before the arrival of Solomon Dalung as sports minister, the state of sports in Nigeria was in total comatose. Most of the sporting federations’ asides football, were only known for attending the All African Games, Commonwealth Games and Olympics, neglecting the grassroots and the various annual championships. The few occasions where athletes participated in International Championships; enjoyed full allowances and entitlements was during the military regimes of Late General Sani Abacha, General Ibrahim Babangida as well as the short stint of Mallam Alhassan Yakmut as Director General of the defunct National Sports Commission when Nigeria participated at the 2015 All Africa Games in Congo. The former Chairman of Langtang South Local Government Area before his appointment had no clear knowledge of sports but that has changed completely, because in four years, he has completely changed the fortunes of Nigeria sports. Two years after he came into office, Dalung took an unprecedented step by amending and releasing the guidelines for the 2017 elections into National Sports Federations on 22nd April. The tenure of presidents of national sports associations was extended to 12 years as against the earlier proposed two terms of eight years and a few sit tight presidents were barred from seeking re-election. An electoral appeals committee was also constituted to consider and decide on all appeals and petitions arising from the elections. On 13th June, 2017, came the elections into National Sports Federations alongside the zonal representatives which produced the crop of board members who are presently performing beyond expectation. In the past, only zonal representatives who were easily manipulated had the power to vote but Solomon Dalung decentralized the powers and made sure key stakeholders voted the candidates of their choice. Dalung on 22nd July, 2017 inaugurated the boards of 29 sports federations with a charge to take seriously the issue of sports development especially at the grassroots. He also charged the federations to begin to look inwards to find a way of formulating their own constitutions that will guide their internal activities. Ever since, most of the sporting federations have been organising various championships and have attended series of championships with and without funding from the Federal Government of Nigeria.   Nigeria hosted the African Wrestling Championships for the first time since inception, hosted the U21 African Volleyball championships, Africa Athletics Championships, and hosted an International Para Powerlifting championship, the handball team qualified for the U18 and 20 men’s world championships, the volleyball U21 team also qualified for the world championships amongst others. Despite the acclaimed crisis rocking some federation in the past, the Nigeria Basketball Federation led by Musa Kida attended the FIBA female basketball world championship. D’Tigress became the first African team to reach the quarter finals of this competition. Nigeria also hosted the first ever G1 Taekwondo tournament in 2019. The bedrock of sports development in any country is the grassroots. The Sports ministry in collaboration with the University of Ilorin, Kwara state signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to host the National Youth Games for five years. Since the return of the Youth Games in 2016, the products of the games have represented Nigeria at various tournaments including the Commonwealth Games, African Championships and invitational events. Some of the product of the Youth Games defeated some National Champions at the 2018 National Sports Festival.  After 6 years, Nigeria finally hosted the National Sports Festival following disappointments from Cross Rivers state, Solomon Dalung took it upon himself to find a lasting solution to the lingering issue. The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) came to the rescue and eventually hosted the festival at the National Stadium Package B, in Abuja a facility that has been redundant since the 2003 All Africa Games tagged COJA. Barrister Solomon Dalung to an average Nigerian is a misfit because of his pardonable blunders on Television like; “The United State of Nigeria”, “The funds ‘spended were properly spended”, “Gongola state” to mention a few but in the real sense, Dalung has performed creditably well in transforming the sporting sector despite being a novice. Dalung can be called a complete sports minister because he created the enabling environment for other sports aside football to thrive during his reign.   The likes of Bolaji Abdullahi, Gbenga Elegbeleye, Sani Ndanusa and Musa Mohammed would have also performed well if they stayed long in office but were affected either by cabinet reshuffling or political differences. Since the President Muhammadu Buhari is in office for another 4 years, it will be wise for His Excellency to retain Barrister Solomon Dalung as Nigeria sports minister for another four year.