NSC operating as ponzi structure - Ndubuoke

NSC operating as ponzi structure - Ndubuoke

Former national president of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Fan Ndubuoke, has accused the National Sports Commission (NSC) as a ponzi structure of Sports administration.

Presenting his paper titled “The Burden of Finding A Balance Between Patriotism and Professionalism” presented at the Special SWAN Workshop organised by Imo SWAN held in Owerri on Tuesday, Ndubuoke said that the NSC has operated without a firm legal grounding, hence they are illegally constituted.

He said: “The NSC functions more as administrative improvisations than as statutory institutions with clear mandates, defined powers, and enforceable accountability”.

The former President accused the Nigerian government of changing names and structures yet without answering the fundamental questions concerning the legal foundation of Sports governance”.

He lashed out at sports journalists for their failure to expose the happenings in the Nigerian Sports, describing it as illegality and institutional disorder.

Ndubuoke regretted that in a situation where an institution lacks legal clarity, they become easy tool for manipulation.

He said: “policies shift with political winds, appointments are made on sentiment, funds are spent without oversight”.

Describing Sports administration in Nigeria as one that resembles a Ponzi scheme, he noted with dismay that money flows from government budgets into the hands of a small circle of administration and their allies, while very little reaches athletes, coaches or grassroots programmes.

While reminding the media of their traditional roles to inform, educate, and to entertain, the former SWAN president urged journalists to always navigate a train littered with obstacles, ownership interests, draconian state laws, safety concerns, hostile working conditions, as well as the threat of intimidation.

He said that as journalists, they are expected to state facts as they are, without fear or favour.

He said: “Yet in doing so, a journalist may step on dangerous toes, his commitment to truth may be interpreted as disloyalty”.

He identified one of the damaging causes of the decline in creativity in Sports journalism as a shift from personal excellence to political patronage.

According to him, many media practitioners no longer pursue mastery of their craft; instead, they position themselves for government favour, political connections and easy money “