NIS remains fulcrum which Nigeria sports revolves …. DG NIS Philip Shaibu
The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for Sports NIS , H. E. Comrade Philip Shaibu says the National Institute for Sports is the fulcrum on which Nigeria sports productivity revolves.
He made this statement during an interview on Channels television last Monday noting that the system of budgetary is tactically responsible for the mismanagement of the National Institute for Sports by past Ministers of Sports.
Shaibu also pointed out that Nigerian Sports is not living up to its bidding because the institute was relegated to the background due to sharp practices.
”Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration funding of sports has been the highest, the last budget is the highest budget the sports sector has ever gotten. But , NIS was not captured in that funding and it has been like that for decades.
“I remembered I called that all the former ministers of sports should be summoned by the National Assembly to come and account for their role in the destruction of NIS.”
The former Edo State deputy governor further cleared the ambiguity on the independence of the NIS from the National Sports Commission.
He said the institute was under the defunct Ministry of Sports, but as it stands, NIS is an independent parastatal from the Sports Commission identifying that the modus operandi of the NSC is responsible for creating this confusion.
”When the Ministry of Sports was in existence, the Commission, NIS, and NFF were parastatals under the Ministry.
I was one of those agitators that glamour for the sports ministry to be dissolved for the National Sports Commission. Now we have the NSC, we have NIS and we have the NFF. As we speak, these three agencies in sport are directly under the Presidency.
But the transition from Ministry to Commission has not been there. The Ministry system is still in operation, unfortunately.
The NIS, NSC and NFF have their own separate budget and the approval of NIS budget ends with the DG/CEO, which is Shiabu. The NSC budget approval ends with the chairman, Dikko and that of the
NFF has its budget ends with its President, Gusau. And for the first time, the President is directly appointing the chairman of Commission, directly appointing the CEO and DG of NIS.”He explained.
When asked about the transparency and how the funds of the NIS will be managed, Shaibu was vocal about being his integrity to the front burner. He disclosed that the public- private partnership deployed during his tenure as deputy governor of Edo State will also be employed so as to checkmate the investment of the private sector in the institute.
”For me, I am bringing my own integrity to play, which was tested in Edo State. When we came in, it was a similar situation we found in the state. We were able to rebuild and build infrastructure then we brought the private sector to help drive it.The private sector was part of our board and our programmes.”
”Also, I was the chairman of the Edo 2020 National Sport Festival and I made sure we incorporated the private sector to be part of the committee. They may not have voting rights, but they are in the system, seeing how their investment is being run. That alone gives them confidence.
”You will remember, I’m the first chairman of a Local Organizing Committee after the sports festival that left over 500 million, and it was returned back to the government. We did our internal and external auditing, which was submitted to the then minister of sports, Sunday Dare. That was the first of its kind.” he concluded.
