EXCLUSIVE: Senator Adbul Ningi blames decline in Nigeria sports on lack of policies and uninterested Sports administrators

Nigeria Hockey Federation Chairman, Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi has blamed the decline of sports in Nigeria on ‘uninterested sport ministers’ appointed in the past, present and lack of proper sport policies by the Government.

He told sportlineng in exclusive interview at the just concluded National Super League that Hockey and other sports are suffering because of selfish civil servants at the helms of affairs of sport in Nigeria.

Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi also pointed that football is on the decline because of same reason.

“Nigeria is a country that has not been guide by any sense of history.

“More often than not, our concentration on football has made the sport to nose dive, government is paying 99 percent attention to football, private companies have also been giving football endorsements and spornsorships.

“But what is the history of football now in this country, we are now in 17th place from 1st and everything is going down to the decline.

“There is no articulate sporting policy, that has to do with the kind of position government take sport to be.

“More often than not you find out that sports minister at various successful government are appointed just to fill the space, irrespective of whether they have concrete sporting knowledge.

“Sport is a passion, even if you appoint a professor of Physical and Health Education and that passion isn’t there, that person won’t take you any where.

“You need to be a sport man to feel the pains of losing and glory of winning, and whereby an administrator feels that sport is just is like any other endeavours, you don’t have pains whether you lose or not its a government thing then, there is a problem and that’s why we are where we are.

“People who are not committed are the ones in charge of sport in Nigeria, the civil servants and bureaucrats have shown lack of interest in sport, they just see it as an auxiliary job and therefore whether they do it right or wrong they collect their salaries,” he said.