By Yusuf Joseph
The Director-General of the National Institute for Sports (NIS), Mr Philip Shaibu has reiterated his commitment to returning the institute`s lost glory after years of neglect and institutional rot.
Shaibu, who stated this while addressing newsmen on the state of infrastructure decay at the institute`s office in Abuja and Lagos on Tuesday, said under his watch, NIS will be a production industry.
The director general, who decried the state of infrastructure at the institute, said that when he assumed duty, it was not habitable for work.
In his speech he said “the environment wasn’t habitable, and I felt it needed immediate improvement.”
“It was sad that an institute that was supposed to be the heart of sports in Nigeria was at that level.
“I was disheartened to see the state of the sports institute, which should be a hub for excellence in Nigeria.
“I was given the mandate to go and transform the institute and return it to a Centre of excellence for Nigeria and Africa.
“I witnessed firsthand the neglect, including a tree growing in the middle of a tennis court. It’s a powerful symbol of the systemic issues plaguing the institute,” he added.
Shaibu said the blame for the Institute’s deterioration extends beyond the staff, placing much of the responsibility on the Federal Ministry of Sports.
“We had ministers and they never gave attention to the institute, knowing fully well that it is the heart of sports in the country.
“I believe the ministry bears 60 to 70 per cent of the blame for the decay of the NIS. It was a case of ‘business as usual’ for too long, in spite of the institute’s critical role in Nigeria`s sports development,“he said.
He said that the NIS which plays a crucial role in training coaches and elite athletes was originally envisioned as a world-class facility.
“We are ready to be a production industry for sports where we will produce high graded coaches who will produce podium elite athletes for Nigeria.
“With our size, talent, and resources, Nigeria has no excuse not to be a podium finisher in every international competition.
“We have a 10-year working plan that was subjected to a 32-man committee, also to help to scrutinise it.
`In that plan, we are bringing in new courses, merging some of them that are obsolete and cleaning our website to make it interactive, ‘he said,
Shaibu said that executive courses and a course for scouting of players would be introduced to the existing ones in the institute.
According to him, paramedics will be resuscitated while sports physiotherapy will be introduced.
We will be into serious business in the area of coaches and athletes, and we are going to partner with the Nigerian Referee Federation to have them trained by us in partnership with FIFA and CAF.
“The complex was designed to support all 37 sports, for both training and competitions, under one roof. Yet, its potential has been squandered,” he said.
He condemned the continued practice of sending athletes abroad for training in spite of the existence of a 200-bed, hotel-standard accommodation facility in Abuja.
“If efficiently managed, we could train at least 800 athletes locally. But unfortunately, it appears more profitable for some individuals to send athletes abroad to the detriment of our local development,” Shaibu said.
Shaibu reaffirmed his commitment to working closely with the private sector and the National Sports Commission to reposition the NIS as a continental leader in sports development.
He also reiterated the institute`s readiness to work with the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) to move sports forward.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NIS was established by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and modelled after the Australian Institute of Sport.
