*Blames poor outing to neglect of world class facilities at Rojenny
*Says Rojenny has enough facilities to produce Olympic champions
*Echoes how Eaglets lifted Japan ’93 U-17 World Cup from Rojenny
By Favour Goodness
The Proprietor of Rojenny Games Village Oba, near Onitsha in Anambra state, Rommy Ezeonwuka has joined other sports lovers to rue Nigeria’s abysmal outing at the just concluded 2020 edition of Olympic Games held in Tokyo, Japan.
Loading ...Ezeonwuka described the performance of Nigeria’s contingent to Tokyo as a global shame to the nation Christened Giant of Africa to go to Olympic Games and return with just two medal such as a silver and a bronze medal.
Reviewing the Tokyo Games, Ezeonwuka on Tuesday blamed the failure of the Nigeria contingent to Tokyo to rake at least 10 medals or even more on many factors which includes neglect of the need to invest much on discovering talents in sports by political leaders as well as neglect of world class facilities at Rojenny Games village by the Federal Ministry of Sport and Youth Development.
The Rojenny boss who holds an award of Pillar of Sports issued him by government of Anambra state said that Rojenny has world class facilities good enough to train and churn out Olympic champions.
The facilities are Olympic sized football stadium, Olympic standard tartan track, Olympic swimming pool, tennis court, basketball court and volley ball court among others with a conducive atmosphere good enough to help athletes to develop and build up capacity on a faster note
He wondered why successive Nigeria’s Ministers of Sports and Youth Development including the current Minister, Sunday Dare do not consider it right enough to make use of Rojenny Games village.
He added “I built Rojenny for the development of Sports in Nigeria but unfortunately those in charge of Sports in the country have failed to put Rojenny in use.
“Does it mean that Dare as Minister of Sports is not aware of Rojenny Games village which started hosting international sports competitions way back in 1980s?
He continued “If Dare is not aware of Rojenny which has played host to African football giants such as Zamalek of Egypt, Raja Casablanca of Morocco, Expereance of Tunisia among other that means he is not qualified to be Minister of Sports.
“Is Dare as Minister of Sports not aware that the Golden Eaglet of 1993 led by Wilson Oruma as captain along with Kanu Nwankwo, Peter Anosike and others under Coach Fanny Amun lifted the U-17 World Cup in Japan in 1993 after camping at Rojenny
“Again, is Dare also not aware that the last edition of National Police Games was held at Rojenny Games Village? I don’t see Rojenny hosting Africa football giants if we don’t have good and world class facilities. I don’t see Rojenny as good enough to serve as training ground for Golden Eaglets if we don’t have world class training facilities and I don’t see the possibility of the Inspector General of Police given approval for Rojenny to host Police Games if we don’t have good facilities
Ezeonwuka went further to blame the failure to develop sports in Nigeria to misplacement of appointments by Presidency noting that in some cases, Presidency misplace appointments by appointing a lawyer to do the work that requires an architect.
“You cannot give the job that suppose to be handled by a bricklayer to a truck pusher and expect good results. If you want to develop education, give it to someone who is specialized in the field of education” he said.
He urged the federal government as well as state governments in Nigeria to take the issue of sports development serious.
According to him, Sports have enormous benefits of enhancing both security and economic development with the chances of making jobs available for the youth.
He listed China and Jamaica as examples of countries who have lately used sports to effectively respond to the security challenges in their country tasking both federal and state government to heavily up their annual budget on sports as part of efforts to address insecurity and youth restiveness.
