A board member of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Henry Okorie, is disturbed by what he described as a ‘poor state of sports’ in the southeast region of the country.
Okorie, a former 400m hurdler, who is currently the Chairman of, Nigeria Athletics Athletes’ Commission (NAAC), said, that sports decadence in the Southeast geopolitical zone of the country, particularly, Enugu State, is worrisome.
Okorie said it would be immoral to take such a big bite without a save our soul (SOS) message to the government.
“It will be fair to look briefly at the reward culture of the state. Stars do emerge in Enugu both in the entertainment and sports industries.
Typical of our entertainment stars, they leave for Lagos, for obvious reasons. Our sports stars, those in team sports like football usually move abroad to get better sign-on fees.
Then, individual sports stars, who emerge by sheer grit, either go to another state or get hanged out to dry. This preposterous fate systematically programmed against our sons and daughters is now a daily dose of sleeplessness I don’t seem to have an antidote for yet. I lived this fate, all these years, helpless, but it is very unfortunate. We cannot take it anymore. It is disturbing. It is sad.”
Okorie, who is the Athletes’ Representative on the AFN Board, represented Nigeria at several international events, including the African Games, African Senior Athletics Championships, Commonwealth Games and World Athletics Indoor Championships in his active days.
He revealed that several athletes from Enugu and other states in the southeast region have been winning medals at the National Sports Festivals since 2009, yet they don’t represent their state of origin.
“I must admit that the social and sports culture, in particular, is very weird,” Okorie said.
“Where the government allocates over 90 per cent of what should have gone to sports to football, and particularly, to a non-viable football club at that.
To worsen the situation, a litany of youth groups are all over the social space singing government praises.
