Gumel: Good Governance Key To Advancing Nigerian Sports

President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Engineer Habu Gumel, has stressed the importance of good governance, accountability and continuous learning in moving Nigerian sports federations forward.

Gumel spoke at the sidelines of the ongoing NOC/Olympic Solidarity Seminar on Good Governance for Presidents of Sports Federations in Nigeria in Abuja. The two-day seminar, organised with the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through its Olympic Solidarity programme, will conclude today (Tuesday).

The NOC president described the seminar as an important platform for sports administrators to acquire additional knowledge and strengthen the management of their respective federations.

“Good governance has a lot of meaning and a lot of things to do with accountability and making progress for your national federation,” Gumel said.

He acknowledged the efforts of the various national sports federations, but stressed that continuous capacity building remained necessary to improve their administration and overall performance.

“The national federations are doing well, but additional knowledge is very important so that you can be able to move your national federation forward,” he added.

Gumel explained that the seminar provides an opportunity for Nigerian sports administrators to interact with experts and share experiences on governance and sports administration.

According to him, the knowledge acquired at the seminar would be taken back to the federations and discussed at board level to ensure that it translates into practical improvements.

“We interact together, we work together, and then we get our information. Then we go back to the national federations and discuss it at the board meeting, so we can be able to move forward and help our athletes,” he said.

He added that the ultimate objective was to create an environment that would enable Nigerian athletes to perform better when representing the country internationally.

Gumel also explained that the governance seminar was part of the NOC’s broader programme of capacity-building initiatives during the current Olympic cycle.

He dismissed any suggestion that the seminar was organised in response to a particular problem within Nigeria’s sports administration, saying it was part of a programme developed in collaboration with Olympic Solidarity.

“For the last three years or so, we have had a lot of programmes and seminars, mainly on women, the Women Commission, medicine and so many other things,” he said.

“This one has come at this particular period. It is not that there is something wrong. It is part of our programme for the entire quadrennial, which is the IOC’s concern.”

Gumel disclosed that the NOC had lined up several other seminars and capacity-building programmes, stressing that the governance seminar was only one of a number of initiatives planned to strengthen sports administration in Nigeria.