Former Commissioner of Sports, Edo State, Brown Ebewele, has said that the idea of making the National Sports Festival an exclusive preserve for raw athletes is a great disservice to the games, insisting that the festival should be made to be competed for by both the local and foreign based Nigerian athletes.
Ebewele, while assessing the National Sports Festival since inception, submitted that the motive for establishing the festival has been defeated, even as he took a swipe at the National Sports Commission for doing nothing to develop the said raw athletes they claim to be discovering.
He stated that while it is the responsibility of the NSC to discover raw athletes from schools and recommend to the states sports councils, the former Athletics Federation of Nigeria boss said the commission has reneged in its duties while chasing shadows.
Ebewele said: “The ministry should discover athletes.
“We at the state councils have direct assess to elite athletes.
“This idea of restricting the sports festival to only local athletes is killing our sports.
“If the festival is thrown open, it will make the local athletes to sit up and compete very well.
“The National Sports Commission is always going cap in hand to the Federal Government begging for money to send athletes to competitions.
“They do not nurture and develop.
“What I am saying in effect is that the NSC should stop deceiving us by saying the festival is meant to discover raw talents.
“We should move forward.
“Let the festival be thrown open.”
Contrary to speculations in some quarters that the N20 million, N15 million and N10 million promised by President Goodluck Jonathan to the first, second and third states will generate controversy, Ebewele said it would not.
According to him, rather than generate controversy, it will bring about healthy competition.
He said: “Every competition generates interest and winning at all cost.
“So this will not be the first.”
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