House Committee Not Done with NSC

In this exclusive interview with FRANCIS ACHI in Abuja , Chairman, House Committee on Sports, Godfrey Alli Giaya, bares his mind on the shocking revelations from the National Sports Commission, NSC, on how funds meant for sports were expended, why the committee accepted the 2012 budget of the NSC, the absence of Nigeria at the Nations Cup and the bill to recognise the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF

What is the next line of action of the committee after receiving the 2012 budget of the National Sports Commission, NSC?

We will soon embark on official tour to access the capital projects of the NSC soon. We will go to all the places, where capital projects are said to have been executed based on the document submitted by the NSC. We want to see if those projects are on ground and to access the level of their acceptability. The 2012 budget has been passed. It has nothing to do with our tour. Our tour is to assess how money given in the past had been utilised. We did not do well in sports last year which gave Nigerians a lot of concern. Our committee believes that we should find out the root of the problem to see how we can proffer lasting solutions to it. We don’t want Nigerians to experience what happened in our sports last year again, especially in football.

Your committee gave Nigerians the impression that the NSC will be made answerable for its financial recklessness in the execution of the 2011 budget; it was therefore surprising to hear the NSC was cleared and its 2012 budget passed. Why is it passed?

You see budget is not just about an organisation. A lot of ministries,departments, agencies and MDAs of government are involved. It is a national issue and if we insisted that we must continue to investigate how the 2011 budget of the NSC was expended, we will be a stumbling block to other MDAs who have already submitted their 2012 budgets without financial flaws.

That is why we passed the budget of NSC. We did not want to slow down other MDAs. We will not relent in our efforts to ensure the NSC give a good account on how the funds meant for sports in the country are expended.

We will still look carefully into the budgets of 2009, 2010 and 2011 and correct the anomalies to avoid the same problem this year.

Is the N1.2m naira to package the NSC facebook page saga over?

To tell you the truth, there are lots of shocking revelations in the document submitted by the NSC that the members of the committee found to be very absurd. We will still look into the items one by one and raise questions on any financial anomalies and Nigerians will know everything.

We will not cover any thing. Every Nigerian shall hear and see what the committee will do to correct these financial recklessness by the NSC. It is just that we don’t want to continue investigation because of the essence of time in passing the 2012 budget. The investigation will definitely drag for too long and we are trying to avoid a situation whereby the budget will be passed in May or June, by then the year is almost gone.

As I said earlier, budget involves a lot of things, not just sports. We have to consider roads, education, health, water, defense and other essentials of the society. If we do not pass the budget early, it becomes a big problem for so many Nigerians. The civil servant will find it difficult to get salary. The school fees of his children will suffer. What I mean is that an average Nigerian will suffer dearly for it. We agreed that despite all the problems identified, it will be counterproductive to focus on the past, while the present and the future suffer.

What you mean is that the N1.2 million facebook scam will make the present and the future to suffer if it is thoroughly investigated?

I am assuring Nigerians that the committee will look into the problems of the past budgets very well.

Has the committee also decided not to investigate Dr. Patrick Ekeji, the Director General of the NSC on the petitions written against him?

Let me inform whoever that wants to hear that the committee received petitions from the Office of the Speaker over allegations of corruption in the NSC. If people think that should be part of the budget defense, it is a wrong thinking because if we dwell on the two issues, we will not have enough time. We concentrated only on the issue involving the 2012 budget. At an appropriate time, the committee will look into the petitions and invite whoever is affected to come and state his case.

Let’s come to football. The African Nations Cup is on going without Nigeria. How do you feel?

I am very sad. I can’t deny it and I am sure so many Nigerians are not happy. The atmosphere in Nigeria also depicts this. The excitement at the competition is not great and we all know the answer. The failure of Nigeria to qualify was a bad business. Any time I see the Nations Cup, I change the channel or even switch off the television. It is very painful and we (the committee members)have resolved that we will do everything in our power to cooperate with the Nigeria Football Federation; NFF to ensure that Nigeria qualifies for every Nations Cup during our tenure. If it is the problem of finance, we are ready to assist the NFF. It is a big shame that 16 best African teams are on parade at the Africa Nations Cup and Nigeria is not there. I find it very difficult to accept this.

What is the committee doing to hasten the passing of the bill to recognise NFF so as to put an end to the NFF/NFA saga?

It is a problem that needs the support of every lover of football in Nigeria. We in the parliament will continue with the process of passing the bill into law that will give the NFF a complete legal backing. If it is a problem of name, we are ready to rectify it. The truth is that, we want to put an end to court cases involving our football and hopefully by the middle of this year, the bill to end the problem will be passed into law.