John Owan Eno — A silent operator

Nigeria senior male basketball team, D’Tigers, were on the verge of missing the FIBA Afrobasket qualifiers, which began in Tunisia on Friday

The ‘new’ Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Eno, is an enigmatic, silent operator. You hardly see him, yet, quietly, he is impacting Nigerian sports in a big way.

It may be too early for a scorecard of his performance, but observing him these past few months as I have done, requires some appraisal and commendation.

This week, the National Men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, were to be withdrawn from participation in the AfroBasket Championship taking place in Tunisia from this weekend. The Basketball Federation of Nigeria did not have the funds to send the team to the championship. Meanwhile, the results from the event will determine the African countries that shall represent the continent this summer at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Such a withdrawal would have been a humiliation, the worst kind of publicity for Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa, the ‘leader’ of the Black race on earth, one of the richest countries on earth with its natural resources, a country blessed with some of the most talented basketballers out of Africa in the home of the sport – the USA, African champions to the last Olympic Games. It would have been a diplomatic faux pas!

Only a week earlier, the whole world was witness to a great demonstration of the true essence of sports when Nigeria opened its vault to celebrate, honour and reward the country’s footballers, not for winning a trophy, but for getting to the finals of AFCON 2023, and in the process uniting the country and evoking the spirit of patriotism in all Nigerians.

The two scenarios above, happening in the space of one week, do not add