Integrity-driven administration and youth-focused reforms made the Niger Delta Games more competitive — Sir Braveman Wodi

 

By Mishael Emmanuel at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City, Edo State, South-South, Nigeria 

 

 

 

The Chairman, Screening Committee of the just concluded 2nd edition of the Niger Delta Games, held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City, Edo State, South-South, Nigeria, Sir Braveman Wodi, has said that integrity-driven administration and youth-focused reforms were key factors in the success of the event. 

Sir Braveman Wodi in an exclusive interview with FIRST ZEALMEDIACAST BLOG's Mishael Emmanuel, emphasized that age cheats as the nemesis of the Nigerian sporting ecosystem and that the Screening Committee took strong actions against recycled senior athletes and rule violations, stating that the lessons learned from the first edition proved invaluable.

Sir Wodi also cited the mandatory pre-tournament screening and advocacy visits to the 9 participating states as the other elements for the success of the Games, “After the first edition, the organizers Dunamis-Icon, ably Chaired by the Project Consultant, Chief Itiako Ikpokpo, had a brainstorming session to see what things we can do better.

 

“We started by lowering the age bracket, because the central idea is to churn out young talents. So we did that and we said there would be a lot of issues with age cheats, that's the pain of Nigerian sports, what do we do. So we went hunting for those who are men and women of integrity. And also brought out rules which would be applied by all and that is exactly what was done.

 

“To make sure of our success, the Project Consultant, suggested that we should go for an advocacy tour to all the participating teams and then carry out a kind of pre-tournament screening and that is exactly what we did, even before they came here. After we had their entries, even before the DMR we had to screen all the athletes and found out that about 260 athletes were ineligible.

 

“We forwarded that to the States and we gave them room to replace those athletes. In doing so the battle line had been drawn because we had given them the platform to make the necessary amendments. What we did there was to weed out what we thought was not right in terms of age cheating, in terms of poaching of athletes and breach of the rules.”

  

Braveman Wodi, the former Director of Sports, Bayelsa State Sports Council, highlighted the competitive balance achieved at the event as he stated that the talent levels were more authentic.

“I think the level of competition is keen and to a very large extent you will agree that the athletes are very young and we had done a lot to that effect. The competition was keen because the competitors are within the same age bracket and we are seeing their potential.

  

“Although as it is expected, you will see the three top contenders, Edo State hosting to win, Delta and Bayelsa State, the Champions of the maiden edition who finished third, but I think there are still a lot of competition from the best of what I have seen.”

 

Wodi attributed Bayelsa State' declined on the the medals table to administrative bottlenecks and psychology, framing it as a circumstantial setback. He was also confident that Bayelsa sports fortunes will rebound with the recent appointment of the new Deputy Governor.

“Bayelsa State has a very good sports structure and I think their lull on the medal table somehow has to do with phycology. Because we lost our Deputy Governor in December, morale was low. And it affected preparations because sports is directly under the portfolio of the Deputy Governor. So we had some hiccups and administrative bottlenecks that culminated into what you are seeing now.

 

“I am sure that now that we have a new Deputy Governor who is sports personified, because when you are talking about His Excellency, Pastor, Dr. Peter Akpe, who happened to begin his career as a Sportsman. He was a martial artist and he started at the Bayelsa State Sports Counsel as the Organizing Secretary before he later retired and went on into politics, so he is a man who who knows what sports entails.

 

“So we are privileged that we have another Deputy Governor who knows much about sports and it is a thing of joy that we have him. And I know that the fortunes of Bayelsa sports will turn around and it will only get better. That is the assurance I can give.”

 

Braveman Wodi concluded with praise for the organizers, noting that competitions of this quality are rare, “Beautiful, what I want to say is that they have done a good job and you know we don't have this kind of competitions regularly. More especially when we have sponsors who are ready to sponsor it year in, year out. So we need to do our own due diligence by making sure that we participate by the rules.”