Maurice Greene has nothing to offer Nigeria – Toni Urhobo

June 7, 2014

 

Toni Urhobo

Toni Urhobo has seen it all in Nigerian athletics. He was one of the first schoolboy athletes to be invited to the national team – in 1966. He was a distinguished footballer, cricketer and tennis player in his school days. He won laurels for the defunct Midwest State, Lagos State and for Nigeria in his heyday. He   coached the national team for years, producing top-class athletes and winning medals for the country. In this interview with FESTUS ABU, the 68-year-old ex-Athletic Federation of Nigeria President speaks about athletics and problems of Nigerian sport.

How would you assess athletics in the country?

It has been terribly bad for sports in the country. It’s not just athletics. The right people are not in the right place. Sport is big business and nobody goes into business to lose. If those managing it are not equipped, there will be problems. You have to understand the running of an organisation to succeed.

We are not performing in major competitions not because we don’t have the materials, but because our sport is being managed by people who have no business being there. The last time the Athletic Federation of Nigeria had someone knowledgeable about the sport was when I was there. I rose from the junior team to the senior team, and I’m a coach.

People who are honest and are knowledgeable about sport are not given the opportunity to contribute. Every Tom, Dick and Harry get into sport. Some are there to enhance their political ambitions or to become popular. There was a time governors struggled to be federation presidents.

Many Nigerians thought they came in to develop sport. They didn’t know that some of them used the opportunity to transfer stolen money overseas.

What are the causes of the problems in Nigerian sport?

Inasmuch as government is involved in the management of sport in the country, there will always be problems. Government can’t run sport. What the government should do is put down the structures and get people who have knowledge about sport to run it.

It took me time (as the AFN President from 1996 to 1997) to realise that you have to play ball if you want to succeed. If you are not, you will fail.

I was the first AFN President to secure sponsorships for all our events. But the sports ministry descended on me. They asked me who gave me permission to do so. I had a lot of problems with ministry officials because I refused to play ball. We they couldn’t force me to be part of their dirty politics and dubious deals, they dissolved the board.

Look at the millions they are going to spend in Brazil (for the World Cup). Everybody is thinking about what to get for himself. They don’t care about the players. That is why there will always be problems between the Nigeria Football Federation and the ministry over who controls such money.

When government officials are involved, you begin to hear about corruption. If we want to progress in sports, the government has to take its hands off. Let’s get people who can run sport independent of the government.

More star athletes have dumped the country for other countries since Francis Obikwelu and Gloria Alozie left. What’s your reaction?

Yes, I  encouraged Obikwelu to accept the offer. When he told me that Portugal had approached him, I encouraged him to seize the opportunity.

We   were in Rome for an event and there was no money to pay the athletes. The secretary who stayed behind in Nigeria to get their allowances only arrived in Rome to tell us that the money was not released. I felt for the athletes and when Obikwelu told me about his offer, I encouraged him to go because I couldn’t help him and other athletes. I couldn’t have persuaded my son to stay back when he had the opportunity to realise his dreams somewhere else. I have no regrets encouraging Obikwelu to accept Portuguese citizenship because he is reaping the benefits today.

We must ask ourselves why we keep having problems paying our athletes their allowances. When they complain they are labelled   unpatriotic.

Why do our officials collect money on behalf of players and refuse to pay them? Why would an official who collected $5,000 on behalf of the players want to pay them $2,500?

There’s no player who doesn’t want to play at the World Cup. There’s no athlete who doesn’t want to compete at the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games.

Some of the (ministry) officials collect athletes’ allowances in dollars and   pay the athletes in Naira. Some of us know that they use the money for business. There should be a revolution in Nigerian sport.

How can we stop our athletes from leaving for other countries?

We must make them comfortable to stay here. The majority of our athletes are not well taken care of. Our facilities are outdated.Sport is big business. Different nationals are coming to Nigeria because of the business opportunities in the country. If business is no longer favourable for them in Nigeria, they will go elsewhere.

It’s the same thing with athletes. They go to places where there are better opportunities. Every athlete wants to be the best in their event. If their country can’t provide them the right environment to excel, they go elsewhere. It has nothing to do with patriotism. In my time, there was patriotism – but things have changed. Footballers leave their countries for clubs or countries with better incentives and where they will be known. Some even represent other countries. Some athletes who shunned offers from other countries to represent Nigeria are regretting today.

We had the potential to win gold medals in the 1987 World University Games in Yugoslavia with four of my athletes in the final of their events. These were athletes who out of patriotism chose to represent Nigeria in the competition instead of representing their universities in America. But when the NUGA officials came and told us there was no money to pay them, they abandoned the competition and travelled back to America.

No player will remain in the Nigerian league if he has a chance to earn big money in Europe. Players go to clubs or countries where they can develop and there’s nothing like patriotism.

George Weah left (Tonnerre Kalara of Cameroon in 1988) for Europe and returned years later to contest as Liberian President.

There are Kenyan athletes who are competing for European countries who have come back home to use the money they made to develop their families in Kenya.

It’s cruel to stop your athletes from leaving when you can’t offer them what they stand to gain by representing other countries.

We wanted (Francis Ayodele) Daley Thompson (who won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four times) to represent Nigeria, he turned down the offer to represent Britain. Christine Ohurougu is representing Britain and has been winning gold medals for them. When she came to Nigeria recently, she advised us to provide good facilities for our athletes. She wouldn’t have got to the level she is now if she had decided to run for Nigeria.

When the Jamaicans were losing athletes to the US, they didn’t stop their athletes from going to America. What they did was to provide good facilities and offer their athletes scholarships and training grants to keep them at home.

Asafa Powell was trained in Jamaica and became a world champion. He was never trained in America.

We should plan and change our policy. Sport and education go hand in hand. We should equip our primary, secondary and higher institutions. In my time, sport was under the Ministry of Education.

The school sport attracted crowds. An event between my school, Hussey College, and Urhobo College attracted big crowds. We don’t have crowds at school events these days.

It’s sad that our government doesn’t take sport seriously. People are appointed to head sport in the country not because they are knowledgeable about it but because they are political party members or close to those in government.

Currently, Blessing Okagbare is Nigeria’s best athlete. Why is the country no longer producing world champions?

It’s a shame we have been relying on one athlete to win medals for us in three Olympics. Our problem is a lack of organisation. We can be great again in athletics if honest and knowledgeable people are in charge of sport. We should stop crash programmes. It takes eight to 10 years to produce an Olympic medallist. Why can’t we have a collegiate system like America?

We have good athletes in the country who were not invited to camp for the Commonwealth Games because those in charge of athletics believe only those born or based in America are good. This is not true. When our athletes go to America they become Americanised and don’t fit into our system.

The AFN has appointed former 100m world record holder Maurice Greene as coach of the national relay team. Do you support the appointment?

I’m totally not in support of the appointment. Who is he? What is his coaching pedigree? What’s his record in coaching? If he was good, institutions in America would have employed him. I’m not against the appointment of a foreign coach but we must get the best. It takes humility and wisdom for a leader to look for the right person – no matter who and where they are. Unfortunately, most of our leaders are too proud to look for the right help. There was a time the Americans dominated the sprints. But they are being beaten by smaller countries. It’s a waste of money to bring Americans who are not technically sound to coach our athletes. It discourages homegrown coaches.

We have good coaches in the country who can do better. I can compete with any coach in any part of the world. I’m grateful to (former Midwest State Military Governor) Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, who gave me scholarship when I was a student of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. His administration also sent me to the US for a coaching course. I have coached world-beaters. Fatima Yusuf and the Ezinwa brothers are some of them.

The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow are just around the corner. What are our chances?

A blind man can even predict what will happen. The same thing happened before the Olympic Games in London two years ago. We depended on one or two athletes who were doing well in Grand Prix.

Grand Prix is a promotional event. It’s an individual event. The athletes win medals for themselves not for their countries. The media are supposed to educate the people. They should ask questions and carry out extensive research to avoid being bamboozled by greedy and dishonest sport officials.

Preparations for the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games are different from Grand Prix. There are athletes who win gold medals at the Olympics without taking part in Grand Prix. The easiest for a coach is to prepare an athlete for Grand Prix.

Well, let’s pray for luck in Glasgow. Okagbare still remains our best hope for medals. She’s a gold medal material. But it depends on how they programme her for the competition. I don’t think she has been properly programmed for major competitions. Give me Okagbare for six months and see what I will do with her.

For the Commonwealth Games, she can concentrate on two events – 200m and long jump. 100m at the Olympics and Commonwealth Games is programmed in such a way as to allow an athlete rest for 30 minutes after the long jump final. If Okagbare is in the long jump final and the 100m final, it means she will only rest for 30 minutes before the 100m final. It takes 48 hours for an athlete to fully recover after an event. So Okagbare can concentrate on 200m, which final takes place a day after the long jump final.

What are you doing currently?

I’m a consultant. A coach is a coach forever. I keep updating myself from year to year. I’m also a fitness consultant.

I wanted to start a programme to prepare three athletes for the Commonwealth Games in November. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by someone through whom I would have secured a sponsorship for the programme.

There’s speculation you are eying the AFN presidency.

I would have loved to but nothing has changed in our sport. I don’t know what disqualifies me from becoming the sports minister? That’s where you can contribute meaningfully. Unless you are connected to the Presidency, you can’t contribute meaningfully as president of a federation. I’m ready to assist the AFN on a temporary basis.