The National Sports Festival, NSF must have come and gone, however, there is no doubt that there are many lessons to learn from the two-week event that took place in Asaba, Delta State especially by other states who are not taking sports serious.

The first is that sport is a unifying factor. During the festival, all states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja were well represented by athletes and officials.

During that period, athletes, officials and others were seen exchanging pleasantries, eating, cracking jokes and doing things together. Apart from the field where they confront themselves, there was no case of altercation outside the field of play. Some were even seen helping each other after combat fight when you least expected. There was unity amongst everybody, there was no segregation.

Some developed countries who know the importance of sports have continued to use it to unify their citizens hence they make facilities available for their younger generations to explore their talents.

Back home in Nigeria, we have seen during the leagues – football, basketball and others that there are no tribes or religion, that is why you will see a particular MUSA playing for Enyimba or Rivers United and CHUKWUDI playing for Katsina or Nasarawa United. Sports especially football does not have enemy and that is one of the reasons why the idea of the National Sports Festival came into being and it has helped a great deal.

This is the reason why government at all levels, from the ward to the local, state and even the federal should embrace sports because it is one thing that will always bring people together no matter the situation and that is one of the secrets of the developed countries.

Secondly, Sports creates employment for the youth. For instance, in Delta, athletes and footballers are on monthly basis hence they earn a living through it.

The Holy Book says, “The idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” Sports can be an avenue to generate employment and if it is well managed, it might also bring money into the country’s economy like what the likes of Brazil, Argentina and others are enjoying.

Thirdly, If facilities are put in place like what we saw in Delta during the National Sports Festival, of course, it will help in the discovery of talents apart from engaging the idle minds which is the devil’s workshop.

Youths who like to discover new things will be made to start doing something to either discover themselves or probably emulate others in that particular sports hence gaining perfection in the process.

But for places where there are lack of facilities, of course, the youths will look for something else to engage themselves. In most cases, negative things. Imagine that there are no facilities in Delta State, Bayelsa, Rivers, Edo and other Niger Delta States, agitation would have continued.

Some of those who ordinarily would have been agitators or militants have discovered their talents through sports because of the availability of facilities. For instance, most of the athletes that won gold in the last National Sports Festival are entitled to a minimum of N1 million and imagine somebody that has five won gold medals.

In Delta State, all the local governments have standard sporting facilities hence the continuous dominance. Apart from the provision of facilities, the State Government also introduced State Sport Festival to create competition amongst the local governments where new talents are discovered.

This is a feat wise neighbouring States have also adopted and definitely, in a short while they will start getting results. There is nothing wrong in copying, you might end up doing better from where or who you copy from.

This is the most important, because we can use Sports to fight crime. Research has shown that youths are the stronger compare to when they are babies or adults hence they want to exhibit their strength in anything and if they are not channeled into positive things, they will be forced to use it for negative things as we have seen in the past.

For instance, armed robbers, if their abilities are channeled into positive things, they might become good shooters and represent the country. Truck pushers that push or lift heavy things can be weightlifters, touts who fight at little provocation can be good boxers if they are well trained, Okada riders can be good motorcycle racers, some thieves who run to escape and even jump fences can be good athlete in sprint or long/high jumps, etc.

The moment those guys are engaged especially in sports, they will be practicing on daily basis and by afternoon or evening, they are already tired and will be thinking of how to go home and rest or meet with their families for those married. And such persons will always be in the company of their colleagues and always thinking of how to better themselves hence they might not have time to think anything evil let alone have strength for such negative venture.

Before the last point, States aspiring to emulate Delta State should have it at the back of their minds that Rome was not built in a day. It takes a lot of planning before implementation. Just like earlier explained, there is nothing wrong in copying, they can visit Delta to understudy or better still ask for a template. They can also come for consultation from the writer who is also a certified coach recognized by Confederation of African Football, he is also versatile in development and administration of other sports apart from football.

There is need to put the right person in place, a square peg in a square hole. There is nothing wrong in putting politicians in positions especially those who worked hard to ensure their principals won but it must be somebody that has knowledge and passion for sports. If we cannot put just anybody in the ministry of Justice, Health, Finance, then Sports should not be an exception.

We have had cases in some states where they put people who don’t know anything about sports hence their priorities are how to buy SUVs, acquire luxury houses and others at the expenses of developing the game. They own athletes, footballers and others allowances and salaries running into millions because they don’t know what motivation is all about while some believe that taking care of officiating officials are the way to go.

So, the moment they have the right people in place, they must not be in a hurry to expect results to start flowing in immediately, it takes a little time. We all saw the performance of Bayelsa in the last festival, it is due to performance of Igali, who many believe is the right man for the job because of his exploits in Wrestling Federation.

Lastly, Delta must not relax, they must not think because they are dominating, that is the end of the case, No! Others are also aiming to catch up with them. It is easier to climb to the top but not easy to maintain the position because there are many oppositions out there and they are ready to do anything to unseat you including conniving.

It is interesting to note that Delta is enjoying dominance because of the template set up by the James Ibori government which was being followed up till today. They can only get better if the new government coming in next year maintain the same standard not minding the party affiliation but the moment a non-sport-loving governor comes in, that might just be the end of their dominance likewise other states.

Before now, Edo was almost unseating Delta in one of the Festivals but when a certain governor came in, who does not love sports, money was not made available hence their facilities became moribund and athletes unable to train, they struggled that period and now they are restarting all over hence their inability to take their usual second position which has been taken by Bayelsa.

Finally, we discovered that some states did not win any medal, they shouldn’t be bothered, what they need to do is to start preparing NOW for the next National Sports Festival if they are really serious about changing the narrative. However, if they don’t start now, then they shouldn’t expect anything because it would be injustice for others to prepare well and win while states who do not also want to win.