WCQ: Defeating Cameroon will be tough for Eagles—Ka’Oje

Former Minister of Sports and Chairman of National Sports Commission (NSC), Hon. Bala Bawa Ka’Oje has left the sports ministry for over a decade, but his interest in sports has kept him within the circle. In this exclusive interview with Extra Time correspondent, BEN NWACHUKWU, in Abuja, he opens up on the forthcoming FIFA World Cup qualifier between the Super Eagles and Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, including problems bedevilling the sports industry in the country and proffered solutions. Excerpts:

It is true you left the sports ministry for more than a decade, what is the driving force that has kept you conversant with what is happening in the industry till date?

According to records, I was once the Minister of Sports and the first Chairman of National Sports Commission. I can tell you I am still very much in sports. Sports is my passion, it is in my blood. Even before I became Sports Minister and Chairman of NSC I was in the sports circle, so it is simply passion that connects me to the industry on daily basis.

Are you comfortable with the recent happenings in our sports industry?

I must tell you, I am keenly following the happenings in sports in our country and I can tell you that all is not well.

Sports is the major source of our joy in this country, but you can see that rather than giving us joy, we are always sad with the results we get from participating in sports, particularly football.

Nigerians love football so much that when any of our national teams like the Super Eagles, Flying Eagles or the Golden Eaglets are playing, we give them total support, but you can see that the results we are getting now are not encouraging.

You are talking about football; the Super Eagles missed out in two consecutive Africa Cup of Nations finals and just in June the team lost to South Africa in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. We are to play Cameroon in a two-legged qualifier for the world cup now. Are you worried?

To say I am worried is an understatement. I am afraid! Cameroon is the reigning African champions. You saw what they played. It was difficult for our team to stand out against South Africa; is it against African champions they can stand out? I know anything is possible in football, but you know the game between Nigeria and Cameroon has never been a tea party. They have always been a very difficult opponent to Nigeria. I am really afraid.

Sir, are you saying Super Eagles cannot beat the Indomitable Lions?

No. I am not totally saying we cannot beat Cameroon, but what I am saying is that Nigeria defeating Cameroon could be tough like America killing Osama Bin Laden!

You know the whole Presidents (past and present) of America had sleepless night when they were trying to kill Osama Bin Laden. Their citizens were not at rest too. That was because Osama Bin Laden proved very difficult to haunt down. America put in every resources, time and all funds to make sure he was killed. We need to put in all our resources in place to stop Cameroon from denying us a place in Russia 2018 World Cup.

What can be done to actualize the dream of Nigeria hoisting her flag at Russia 2018?

The Super Eagles must be adequately prepared. The NFF, technical crew, players, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Sports Minister, federal government, corporate bodies and all Nigerians must contribute in whatever capacity if we can make our dream of beating Cameroon be a reality.

Those who know how to pray should embark on praying without ceasing; those in charge of providing the money should not give any excuses; the coaches and players should see the task ahead as herculean and not to toy with it.

We all must be concerned but it must go beyond mere concern, we must give it our all otherwise it will end up in a sad story.

You sound pessimistic; why do you have such fear for Cameroon?

You know I am a realist. I do not know how to pretend or deceive people. If we could not beat South Africa here on our soil, why should we be confidently talking about defeating current African champions, Cameroon? To beat Cameroon, we must act like the Americans when they wanted to kill Osama bin Laden and that is the way we can get the result that will take us to Russia in 2018.

Honourable, the NFF is complaining of paucity of funds to prosecute the matches; what is your take on that?

Can you tell me any sector of the economy that is not complaining? Is this the first time the NFF is complaining of no money. It is true every sector of the country are complaining of lack of funds, but apart from the subvention government is giving to the NFF, I am aware they have sponsors or have they lost all of them. The problem is that they shroud everything in secrecy. They should open up, run a transparent office so that individuals and corporate organisations would take up the sponsorship of their programmes. This continuous cry for money is because they are secretive. The public is accusing them of corruption and their secretive policy tends to confirm the claim of the public.

What is your advice to NFF and what must they do to overcome their continuous lack of funds to drive their programmes?

They know what to do. They should stop hiding their income in order to have sympathy from government to attract more money from them. They should make their various sources of income public as well as their expenditure. This will also endear government to them to help and even attract more sponsors to them.

Recently, elections were conducted onto the various boards of the sports federations. A lot of protests and petitions came up; what is your reaction to such development in our sports industry?

Elections to the boards of sports federations should not cause sleepless night. You know I conducted elections onto these boards without hassles. The way out is transparency!

Give every interested person who is qualified a level playing ground. No sentiments. If somebody is not qualified he should be disqualified and not allowed to run at all. Those who are coming on board thinking it is a place to make personal money should be told they are in a wrong place.

Aside the aforementioned, whoever is intending to be a board member should know that what qualifies him/her is the contribution such person is able to make or willing to make. These contributions could be both financially and otherwise.

You know where you left sports a decade ago in the country, would you say sports is doing well or undergoing a retrogression in Nigeria now?

I am glad you covered me when I was Sports Minister. I can confidently say that though it has been long I left sports, I took sports to an enviable height, but what we are seeing now in the sports sector is sad. It is like sports is on a speed lane to decay. Frankly, I am saying that sports has crashed from the height we took it.

When our football was having problems, other sports came to the rescue, but today where are the other sports? They are dead even more than football.