President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday bestowed national honours on some athletes and coaches in Abuja following their successful outing at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and some other global sporting activities.
But the selection of the awardees have caused reaction from some officials who believe they have been unjustifiably left out from the ceremony.
President of the Nigeria Chess Federation, OlalekanAdeyemi, lamented the exclusion of chess players from the event, insisting that his wards had achieved as much as the handpicked athletes who got the awards.
The chess team in 2012 won team gold in the men’s event at the Olympiad, while the women won silver in their category. The Olympiad is the World Cup equivalent in football.
The chess team arrived with their medals the same day the Paralympic team to the 2012 Paralympic Games arrived. They were ignored by officials of the National Sports Commission at the airport in Lagos while the Paralympic team was given a glorious welcome by the NSC.
“We had thoughtthe music band and the crowd at the airport were waiting for us but we were shocked when we learnt nobody reckoned with us. We had our trophies and gold medals but it meant nothing to the officials at the airport,” Adeyemi lamented.
“Chess has achieved as much as any sport in Nigeria. In 1998, OdionAikhoje won the Olympiad with a moves that was novel in the chess world. Other players have won laurels internationally but they were not reckoned with.”
Adeyemi blamed the neglect from the government for the lacklustre performance the players had displayed in recent times.
He said, “How will they perform well when no one is motivating them. Nigerian players are still among the best in the world. The whole world knows, but ignore them at home.”
Former boxing coach, ObisiaNwankpa, could not understand why boxers are hardly considered for the national awards.
“Everyone thought I have national award but in truth I don’t have anything.
I don’t know what criteria the politicians use in selecting awardees,” Nwankpa told SATURDAY PUNCH.
“I won Commonwealth Games gold for Nigeria in 1974 in New Zealand and won another gold when I represented Africa at the Intercontinental Games in the same year.
“I see these politicians as educated illiterates who don’t make research before disclosing their findings. If it was a coach that failed to lead his team to gold medal finish, they criticise him.
“Eddie Ndukwu, who represented Nigeria and also won gold at amateur level, died recently but very few people know that the man suffered stroke for eight years before his death. Nobody came to his aid, now they want to give him state burial.”
Nwankpa recalled that NojimMaiyegun, the first Nigerian to win an Olympic medal in 1964, has yet to be honoured for his feat.
President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation Daniel Igali, however, commended the Jonathan for honouring Nigerians from various sectors, saying it was the first time a cook and a driver would be awarded by the government.
“You don’t get that every day. It was the first time I would see people from humble professions honoured by the Federal Government,” Igali said on the telephone on Thursday.
“But I still believe the coaches and officials of the various teams should be honoured. Golden Eaglets coach, Manu Garba, and his assistant NdukaUgbade were honoured for the achievement with the team. It should be the same for the coaches of the wrestling team, the athletics team and every other team that won gold.
“We should remember that these officials invested their money and time to prepare the athletes, most times when the National Sports Commission had yet to release funds or begin camping for the athletes.”
Former national table tennis coach, BabatundeObisanya, did not argue for himself but for some of his players whom he had led to glory in recent past.
He identified the feat achieved by one of Africa’s most decorated table tennis playersToriola, who remains the only Nigerian in the history of the modern Olympics to feature in six Olympic Games.
Since making his debut at the All-Africa Games in 1995 in Harare, Toriola has won 13 gold, three silver and one bronze medals for Nigeria, while he remains the most successful table tennis player from the continent at the Commonwealth Games having clinched two gold and four bronze medals since table tennis became a medal hauling event at the Games in 2002.
In the African table tennis championships, Toriola won eight gold medals, four silver medals and a bronze medal. As the most successful African player, he became the first player to make it to the quarter-final stage at the Olympics and with his six appearances at the Olympics, he joined the duo of Joao N’Tyamba of Angola and Maria Mutola of Mozambique as the third African athlete to compete at six Olympic Games.
Former national table tennis coach, BabatundeObisanya, expressed his displeasure over the selection of the awardees as he argued that athletes in the class of Toriola deserve to be awarded.
“I don’t think those who did the selection have done justice to other sports. They need to dig into the archives to look into the record of athletes before putting names forward for national honours,” Obisanya said.
“The number of footballers awarded national honours in the last three years was much, while other sports have not been well treated in the award. If athletes like Toriola had come from Great Britain, I believe he would have been honoured for attending six Olympics because making it to the Games is no child’s play.”
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