Nigeria’s former Minister for Sports and Youths Development, Solomon Dalung has faulted the incumbent Minister, Sunday Dare for Nigeria’s misfortune at the Tokyo Olympics.
According to him, dissolving the boards of the Sports Federation by the Minister with less than there months to the Olympics is one of the factors that led to Nigeria’s poor performance at the games.
While speaking to ARISE TV in a recent interview, Solomon Dalung also highlighted the Minister’s lack of crisis management in some federations leading up to the Tokyo Olympics.
“Dissolving federations three months to Olympics is an indication that we are not prepared for Olympics. No general dissolves his troops on the eve of an attack and expect to win a war. The dissolved boards have trained and catered for the athletes for more than two years. Crises are part of human existence, the management is what determines the quality of leadership. I inherited many crises, but I resolved them.
“Leadership is about taking responsibilities. When things go wrong, somebody has to be responsible. The entire drama of shame is avoidable. This is a shame that the country has found itself, ” his statement read in part.
The ongoing Tokyo Olympics has been considered as one of the worst in recent times. With two days to the end of the games, Nigeria only have two medals, a bronze, and a silver.
Nigerian athletes also suffered some setbacks during the games: disqualification of 10 athletes, poor flight schedules, shortage of kits, disagreement over phones (a souvenir for athletes at the games), and most recently, PUMA’s termination of its deal with the Athletics Federation of Nigeria.
