Anxiety in NSC over plan to engage COOs for operations

Plans by the National Sports Commission (NSC) to introduce a corporate governance structure and appoint Chief Operating Officers (COOs) for its various departments as part of a restructuring programme has reportedly unnerved the secretaries, who, hitherto, operated as the COOs of the sporting federations.

The NSC leadership, on Tuesday, held a strategic meeting with presidents and secretaries of various sports federations in Abuja.

The meeting marked the first official engagement between the NSC Chairman, Shehu Dikko, and Director-General, Bukola Olopade, with federation leaders following the recent institutional changes in Nigeria’s sports sector.

At the end of the meeting, Director-General of the NSC, Olopade announced that as part of the Commission’s efforts to improve governance within sports federations, it will introduce a corporate governance structure and appoint marketing-driven Chief Operating Officers (COOs).

Another source at the meeting told The Guardian, yesterday, that such practice, if fully operational, might render the ‘powerful’ secretaries redundant or useless in the various sporting federations.

“To a large extent, the secretaries are the major problem of our sports. Some of them go the extra mile to create problems or even frustrate the presidents and board members of the federations by engaging in ‘under table’ deals, inflating flight tickets money and doing all manner of things to the detriment of the athletes and coaches. I support the plans of the NSC.

Maybe, some of the secretaries might be recalled to the Civil Service Commission if they become surplus to requirement at the NSC,” the source stated.

However, there are also some stakeholders, who believe that doing away with the secretaries will be