31st January, 2012
A new twist was added to the drama at the public hearing by the National Assembly House Committee on Sports when the National Sports Commission, NSC, revealed in a document submitted to the Committee that N1.2million was spent to get a facebook page for the Commission.
Facebook is a social website and it is a common knowledge that individuals and corporate organisations get connected to the website for free, but the NSC had given a new dimension to corruption by spending a whopping N1.2 million. A visit to the facebook page of the commission on www.facebook.com/nationalsportscommission indicated that the page was not even a functional one and a lot of Nigerians have reacted on the social media to the new tale of corruption rocking the NSC.
It was also revealed that the NSC spent N182,124,179 to refurbish the National Stadium in Lagos and N117,875,820.95 was spent for the same purpose at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan, Oyo State.
However, a reliable source at the NSC told P.M. Sports in Abuja that it is not the first time financial crisis will be rocking the sports authority, stressing that the Director General of NSC, Dr. Patrick Ekeji, will still come out with a clean bill at the end of the day. The source disclosed that some staff suspected of masterminding petitions against Ekeji have been transferred out of Abuja to some states where they will no longer be used against Ekeji.
Meanwhile, the House Committee on Sports headed by Godfrey Gaiya has cleared the NSC of financial recklessness. The Committee, which had earlier frowned at the expenditure and contracts awarded by the NSC since 2009 went ahead to approve N6.8billion for the NSC in 2012 budget, with N2.4billion meant to cover the cost of participating at the 2012 Olympics in London.
—Francis Achi /Abuja