By Chris Onokpegu

When the ministerial list was released by President Bola Tinubu and read on the floor of the Senate by Chief Godswill Akpabio, President of the Senate, many sports stakeholders were checking to know who might likely be the minister of Sports. After thorough check, they were disappointed that there was no “sports man/woman” amongst the persons on the list.

After the screening by the Senate, people were asking themselves who could likely be the minister. Then after the list of persons and their portfolios were released, they saw one Senator John Owan Enoh as the minister of Sports.

Some people began to wag their tongues, claiming that they were given a man who knows nothing about sports. In as much as I am not trying to defend Mr. Enoh’s appointment, ministerial job is all about administration even though sometimes you need a technocrat in some sensitive positions, so that people in such ministry don’t manipulate them.

Former minister, Mr. Sunday Dare did a yeoman job even though he was not loved by some persons because of administrative style. His ability to secure grants for athletes, get sponsors to work on the Abuja and Lagos stadia, were worth commendable.

However, the task before the new man on the saddle is huge considering the numbers of things to be done in the sector.

Senator Enoh on his part has shown capacity right from the day of assumption of office, he has already hit the ground running. Shortly after resumption, he went on a tour of facilities at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Package A and B last week. He is expected to storm Lagos and other parts of the country this coming week.

The interesting step taken by the minister is the relocation of his office from the secretariat where Mr. Dare operated from, to the stadium. The reasons for the commendation is because so many things will fall in place.

One, during the recent tour, it was discovered that the generating sets were grounded except for one and there was no diesel to power it hence the stadium is always in darkness except when there is “NEPA” supply. It is one of the reasons why past ministers don’t like operating from the stadium. There was a time when the wires supplying electricity to the stadium were vandalised but if the minister’s office is in the stadium, he will do everything humanly possible to ensure that such does not happen again and there is light in the stadium.

For those in doubt, the minister said after the recent tour in Abuja that, “When I was asked where I will operate from, I said it is the national stadium. I don’t have any business going to the federal secretariat. I have directed the permanent secretary that every other department of sports should relocate to the stadium.

“The permanent secretary is already working to allocate offices to those departments that are not here. This ministry is a ministry, I need to be where the action is, where the athletes are, where football is taking place, even for coordination purpose. Most of the departments are already here, so there is no point going to stay at the federal secretariat,” he noted.

Secondly, if the minister operates from the stadium, the grasses would no longer overgrow like what we saw during the tour last week. It was reported some months back how reptiles took over the stadium. The then stadium manager, confided in our correspondent that provision was not enough to cut the grasses. Meanwhile, the money made from the usage of the stadium facilities on monthly basis especially by worship centres remained unaccounted for.

In as much as the minister has agreed to use the stadium as his office, there is need for him to be interested in what goes on in the stadium. Investigations have shown that the stadium pitches go bad because they use them for events and allow the organisers to mount heavy equipment on the playing pitch.

Also, they don’t water the pitches during the dry season hence the leaves dry up and die. This might be a deliberate act so as to get money for maintenance. It is cheaper to maintain than to do a new pitch hence the minister should be interested in how they maintain the pitches especially making provision for water.

Also, there is need for regular maintenance of other facilities like the generating sets, the toilet facilities, the stadium seats, just to mention a few. This might be an herculean task considering the huge sum it might gulp, that is why Senator Enoh must go all out to engage the private sectors.

And one of the ways to do that is to push for tax rebate for any company or organization that is ready to support the development of sports in the country.

The minister should also see the Sports Writers as one of the key stakeholders in the industry if he must succeed. If the media writes good things about the minister and his ministry, investors will come on their own but if it is the reverse, nobody will like to put his or her money in a bad business, (where they will enjoy bad publicity), no matter how lucrative the business might look.

One of the reasons why some felt that Mr. Sunday Dare failed was because of the way he handled some of the issues confronting the federations. According to them, he took side when he was supposed to be neutral. And leaving people to be aggrieved, and allowing some to take matters to court was not the best way to go.

Senator Enoh must show how brilliant he is in handling federation elections because it may make or mar the federation and sports in general in future.

Meanwhile, the minister should also be interested in those federations that are not doing anything. Many of the excos want to bear president, vice president and executive members but are not doing anything. Throughout the year, they don’t organise anything while the counterparts have more than three to five events annually.

On the issue of facilities, the minister should make plans to complete the Lagos stadium. While kudos must be given to Mr. Dare for starting something, Senator Enoh must do something to ensure its completion even if that is the only thing he will achieve which I think it would not because of his antecedents. He can do more than that if what he did for his constituencies as House of Representatives and Senate member are anything to go by.