Former National President of SWAN, Fan Ndubuoke has discribed the sports Administration in Nigeria today as a ponzi structure.
Ndubuoke stated this while delivering a paper at a workshop organized by the Imo State Chapter of SWAN recently in Owerri.
Applauding members of the Imo SWAN for organizing the workshop, he stressed that the practice of sports journalism in Nigeria has never been a simple vocation, as it is a profession shaped by the environment in which it operates.
An environment that is often defined by political pressures, economic hardship, institutional decay, and increasingly, a troubling erosion of values.
He said that though the traditional roles of the media are to inform, educate and to entertain, but the journalist is expected to navigate a terrain littered with obstacles
Speaking on the pervasive corruption that has reshaped the values of the society and by extension, the culture within SWAN, Ndubuoke explained that one of the most damaging but often overlooked causes of declining in sports journalism is the shift from professional excellence to political patronage.
Stating that many practitioners no longer pursue mastery of their craft, rather they position themselves for goverment favour and political connection, hence it has produced a generation of sportswriters who are laid back, unmotivated and unwilling to challenge themselves.
He stressed that when journalist become beholden to politicians, sports Administrators, agents,or scouts, they lose the independence required to elevate the profession.
Adding that corruption has not only weakened the work ethics, it has eroded the very foundation opon which SWAN was built.
Ndubuoke regretted that for years, entities like the National Sports Commission have operated without firm legal grounding and albeit illegally consituted.
Pointing out that they function more as administrative improvisation than a statutory institutions with clear mandates, defines powers, and enforceable accountability.
He stressed that when institutions lack legal clarity, they become easy tools for manipulation. Policies shift with political winds, appointments made on sentiments, and funds spent without oversight.
” In such an environment, corruption is not an aberration, rather a system.
“This is why sports administration in Nigeria today resembles a Ponzi Scheme. Money flows from government budget into the hands of a small circle of administrators and their allies, while very little reaches athletes, coaches or grassroot programmes
“Corruption are staged not as part of a development pathway but as opportunities to cash out. Projects are announced with fanfare and abandoned once the funds been justified. No sustainable model exists, only a circle of extraction and consumption”.
He further said that sections of the sporting press, including SWAN, have often enabled this decay, by celebrating administrators, ignoring illegality, and sometimes particularly in the scramble for estacodes and brown envelopes.
“Until we confront the institutional illegality and ponzi style governance at the heart of the Nigeria sports, our talk about professionalism, patriotism, and ethics will remain empty slogan “.
He urged sportswriters to resist the temptation of unbalanced reporting that undermines sports managers, and avoid becoming a mouthpiece for those in power, to be constructive in criticism, firm in truth, and to be patrotic.
According to him,
“The burden of balancing patriotism and professionalism is heavy, but it is not impossible. The sportswriter must remain steadfast, guided by truth, ethics, and a commitment to excellence.
“Only then can SWAN reclaim it’s rightful place as a guardian of Nigeria sports and a beacon of journalistic integrity”.
