By Raphael Ekpang
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ejike Ugboaja Foundation, Mr Ejike Ugboaja Christopher, MFR has urged the new Minister of Sports, Senator John Enoh to as a matter of urgency find a way of uniting stakeholders in the sector, while congratulating him on his well-deserved appointment.Ugboaja, is the first African to be drafted to the NBA, a former Nigeria basketball star and a board member of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) said, in almost all the sporting federation in Nigeria, there are divisions amongst stakeholders, therefore, the only way sports can thrive in such a society is when unity is restored.He noted that, although many would run to the Minister pretending that all is well, “but the truth of the matter is that all is not well with our sports.”He added that the only way Senator Enoh can surpass the achievement of his predecessors is to drive a sector that is united because a house that is divided amongst itself will definitely not stand.Ugboaja, who has helped over two thousand Nigerian youths to secure their professional careers abroad in Basketball, American Football and soccer, added that the Minister should identify genuine stakeholders in every sports and work with them for the growth of the sports in the country.”I know a lot of persons may not want the Minister to know that all is not well in our sports because they are benefiting in the wrath and division amongst stakeholders in the sector.”Most of them ordinarily should not be where they are today in sports because they are not adding value to it, rather they are milking the sector. They have no business with the games, but because of the wrath in the sector, those who have little or no knowledge in the sector are the one leading now. So, I urged the honourable Minister to use his leadership acumen and separate real Stakeholders from those who came to milk the sector,” he said.
