Tomorrow, the Super Eagles of Nigeria will soar some how, any how, against the minnows from Sao Tome. The victory will cement Nigeria’s route to Cote D’Ivoire in January 2024 when the African Cup of Nations, AFCON 2024, begins. Before...
Featured, General
The Sports and Diplomacy Wall of Fame
It is the morning of July 29, 2023. I am at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, in Lagos, Nigeria. It is a wet, cool and calm morning, and as I drive into the premises it is empty of...
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The life of an OLYMPIAN – Night of a hundred gods and goddesses!
It happened on Thursday night at the Yar Adua Conference centre, Abuja. Some of the most outstanding athletes in Nigeria's Olympic sports in the past six decades (therefore all Olympians), assembled for a special bi-annual re-union organised to remind their...
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Jeremiah Okorodudu, please forgive Nigeria!
It is a sad day and a sadder period for sports in Nigeria. A few days ago, Jeremiah Okorodudu, a famous Nigerian boxer, probably the most flamboyant and loquacious boxer in the country’s boxing history, died in a private hospital...
Featured, Sports Development
July 28th, 2023 – Stepping backwards to see farther ahead in Nigerian Sports.
Officially, the football season in our part of the world has ended. The European Leagues are also on break, and all national football teams have resumed their march to other continental championships. Even those ones will soon give way to...
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At the Olympics, you do not have to participate to be a Winner
It was in 1992, at the finals of the 100 X 4 metres relay race of the Barcelona Olympic Games in Spain. The Nigerian female quartet ran the last 50 metres of the race at such a blistering pace that...
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Birth of a New National Institute for Sports, NIS
I am delving into history. The past has always been my compass into the future on the issue of the Nigerian Institute for Sports, NIS. This is because the past was glorious. I was a part of that past. I...
Featured, Football
$10,000 US Dollars a month for Secretary!
“I am lucky to have left Nigeria early” – Jay Jay Okocha. The-above are the words of one of the greatest players in Nigeria’s football history. Austin Jay Jay Okocha’s words speak volumes, particularly, directly to the state of football...
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From Montreal to Lagos in 47 years – the story of forgotten heroes!
On July 16, 1976, a brand-new Nigerian Airways DC 10 aircraft took off from the Montreal International airport, Canada, piloted by renowned Captain All-well Brown, and heading for Lagos. It was a human cargo of 45 young Nigerian athletes whose...
Featured, Football
The World in crisis. John Mastoroudes ‘returns’. Abeokuta on the cusp of history!
Before you start wondering about the title of my article today, let me remind all that aside from being a sportsman, I am also an official sports diplomat. So, just relax and go with the flow. It is Thursday morning....
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