I visited the campus of Babcock University last Wednesday morning. The university is the temporary ‘home’ of 12,000 young Nigerian athletes. They come from every part of the country – North, South, East and West.
In organising the 2024 National Sports Festival, the host State, Ogun State, decided to house all the participants in a single environment, on the campus of Babcock University, Ilishan. Although 50 kilometers, or so, from some of the venues for competitions, that decision now turns out to be a masterstroke, irrespective of the sponsoring motivation for the State to do so.
As I wandered around the campus and took in the incredible sights and sounds, I am reminded immediately of the words in our national anthem:
‘though tribe and tongue may differ,
in brotherhood we stand’.
On that Campus, the true interpretation of those sacred lines played out before my eyes. However, it will take looking beneath the surface of things to appreciate the implications and significance of adopting the Olympic model of a Games Village for the Gateway Games.
Also Read: Let The Games Begin! – Odegbami
As in the Olympics, all the athletes stay together in a safe place, isolated from the public as much as possible. They eat together, live together, socialize and share the evenings of relaxation together.
Yet, they wake up every morning and go to ‘war’ in the various arenas, competing against one another, to win or to lose.
It is the ultimate lesson of life, how to collaborate and to compete in peace, love and friendship.
In Ilishan, the athletes are living that mantra. It has been one whole week since the athletes, mostly strangers to one another, assembled in this new and unfamiliar place. They are bristling with the fire of ambition to win a medal, and to become successful, rich and famous one day. At the same time, it’s been one whole week without reports of any untoward conduct or crisis. There have not been concerns over differences in language, culture, religion, physicality, or anything for that matter. Instead, this sea of young Nigerians have gone about their sports peacefully and happily.
I watched them in their sports costumes, accreditation cards proudly dangling from their necks, as they went about their business. In this place, it is strictly sport; athletes in groups moving around to catch buses; or going for training or to the restaurant, happy smiles plastered on their faces like pancake; chattering and laughing. It is a perfect antithesis to the intractable other crisis that riddle many parts of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the first step to solving Nigeria’s multifarious problems is uniting the country in a common front against the many challenges she faces. This can be achieved through Sport, some of us insist, amongst other things.
The Olympic Games Village model is a no-brainer. It brings people together, and serves as a catalyst for developing friendships, with Sport as the peace medium.
Also Read: Developing A Sports Eco-system From The Gateway Games! — Odegbami
Sport is a simple but powerful formula that keeps the Olympic Movement intact, and its members ‘quiet’ and behaving. That’s why the organisation has the largest number of members in the world, and every one is tempered to ‘behave’ or to be sent packing.
The power of Sport is a bitter pill to swallow for arrogant leaders that do not see or choose not to acknowledge that Sport can impact and change society. It is too simple to be true. So, they belittle it and treat it with levity.
Meanwhile, the reasons for setting up the National Sports Festival in 1973 are two-fold: to unite the country following the 3-year Civil War; and to discover young talents that will promote and represent the country in international competitions.
Both objectives were delivered by sport, until administrators started to forget and to deviate from and dilute the initial goals.
When a host State came out many years ago and proclaimed that it was ‘hosting to win’ the games, and did everything to achieve that goal by fair and foul means, the original objectives became distorted and diluted, and the festival became an unproductive jamboree.
That may have been the spirit of the various teams when they started to arrive Ogun State for the 22nd edition of the National Sports Festival. That may soon change.
Ogun State wants to put the Festival back on the track of integrity and its original objective.
Also Read: My National Sports Festival Experience…And The 2025 Gateway Games! — Odegbami
From my observation last Wednesday in Ilishan, in the heart of Yorubaland, most of the participants will return to their various States seeing the Games and Nigeria differently, having made new friends, and played a little part in uniting Nigeria.
Two months ago, my daughter and her husband were to visit Tanzania for the first time. I gave them the name and telephone number of Filbert Bayi in Dar Es Salaam, to call him up, and introduce themselves.
Filbert, of course, is my friend. We met on the Olympic circuit of Sport. He is the greatest middle distance runner out of Tanzania. At a time, he was the most famous middle distance runner on the planet.
Before their trip, Funmilayo and Solomon did not know Filbert from Adam. They got to Tanzania, called up Filbert, and told him who they were.
When they came back, they had incredible stories to tell about how Filbert lavishly treated them to some of the best times they have ever had. Filbert pulled out all the stops to welcome and fete them. He did all of these things on the foundation of a relationship forged between a runner and footballer, two athletes from different sports whose paths crossed along the Olympics Circuit, and culminated many years later into a friendship that even the thousands of kilometers that physically separate them cannot diminish. Filbert and I have passed on the baton of our friendship to the next generation – our children.
I have similar relationships with several athletes from different parts of the world, everlasting friendships forged on the fields, in the camps, in the Olympic villages, and during the National Sports festival, decades ago!
I saw glimpses of similar things happening in the eyes of the athletes that I met at Babcock University and interacted with, from Nassarawa, Kogi, Edo and Enugu States.
They loved the atmosphere and the spirit around the Games Village. Even the ‘poor’ food was ‘alright’ because they understand that cooking for 15000 persons from different cultural backgrounds would never be easy.
I left the Games village happier than I got there. Even as the Games progress with several hiccups in organisation along the way, the young athletes are having a ball, and enjoying the experience. They will be amongst those that will leave Ogun State as ambassadors and converts to the power of Sport to unite Nigeria.
It only requires a deliberate and ingenious strategic deployment of Sport by the various governments in Nigeria to reduce crisis, dampen tensions, empower and engage the youths, and unite the country.
