Clandestine moves ongoing to make Dikko sole authority at NSC

Clandestine moves ongoing to make Dikko sole authority at NSC

By Mike Ndidi, Abuja

Certain desperate and discreet moves are now ongoing in certain quarters to ensure that some aspects of the 2023 Act establishing the National Sports Commission (NSC) are changed.

Investigations show that such moves, coming barely a year after the Commission began operations, are aimed at
changing the status of the NSC Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko, to that of an Executive Chairman, with vested powers as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

This will then lead into the Commission's Director-General (DG), Mr Bukola Olopade, dropping into a mere ceremonial officer with no approving powers.

Our investigations indicate that prominent Nigerians have already been recruited to queue behind this move by those who initiated it.

A very reliable source revealed that one of these is Hadiza Bala Usman, daughter of the late Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman, a renowned academic and political figure from Kaduna state.

She is said to have the ears of President Bola Tinubu and is a prominent figure at the Aso Rock Villa, apart from being Tinubu's Special Adviser on Policy Co-ordination and Central Delivery Co-ordination Unit (CDCU).

Aside from the NSC Act's amendment, she and her group are said to be blocking President Tinubu from appointing a board for the Sports Commission.

Her powers are said to be enormous, having served as Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and Chief of Staff to then Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai.

She was said to be instrumental to Dikko's appointment as NSC Chairman.

Also, investigations show that Hon. Tajudeen Abass, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has reportedly joined in the movement to have Dikko as Executive Chairman, a development that will no doubt bring about a locking of horns at the Commission.

The NSC Act 2023 indicates that a 17-member governing board will run the affairs of the Commission in an advisory role, meeting periodically to formulate policies for the smooth
running of the Commission with the Director-General (DG) as the chief accounting officer.

Recently, the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), as well as other relevant stakeholders, raised an alarm on the long delay in constituting a board for the NSC.

These agitations have already been forwarded to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and the leadership of the National Assembly to expedite action in constituting a board for the Commission.