NAN-S-17
Promise
By Dorcas Jonah
Abuja, June 6, 2017 (NAN) Emmauel Gbahabo, one of the presidential aspirants in the elections into the Nigeria Judo Federation (NJF) board, on Tuesday promised to change the face of the game to meet international best standards.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that within three months of his election as president, he would ensure that the federation has a constitution.
NAN report that the elections of presidents and vice-presidents of national sports federations have been scheduled for June 13 in Abuja.
“I have told members of the judo community that three months after I come on board as president of the federation, we will have a functional website and a written constitution.
“We will pre-determine days of our meetings ahead of time so that people can plan and be prepared,’’ Gbahabo said.
Speaking on sources of funds for the federation’s programmes, Gbahabo said he would constitute a standing finance and marketing committee to source for sponsorship.
“Funding is a critical part of sports in Nigeria, particularly now that the government itself is in a big financial problem.
“What I propose to do is to engage a financial manager on a full-time basis.
“His daily job is to go out and look for funding for the game and if he does not meet his target, we will change him.
“I intend to have a standing finance and marketing committee that will be guiding the marketing manager on how to go about his duties.
“I believe that if we explore all opportunities locally and internationally, we will be able to find some funding that will at least meet most of our budget needs, if not all,’’ he said.
Gbahabo said if elected, he would pay more attention to the development of the cadet and junior categories to build a formidable senior national team in the future.
He said he would also establish a mentorship programme where senior judokas would take the junior ones under their wings to help them grow.
Gbahabo said what he considered to be laxity on the part of the last NJF board made him to decide to contest as president.
He also claimed that the federation had not attended international congresses in the last 10 years.
“I have been a judoka all through my life but I have decided to come into the race just to put a few things right.
“For over 10 years now, the NJF has not held any congress which is supposed to be annual events. The last board met twice in four years.
“The members should have been meeting quarterly, and that would have meant 16 meetings, but they had only two.
“The federation does not have a constitution, a website, functional e-mail systems, a facebook or twitter account.
“These problems have contributed to widening the gap between the NJF and the level the federation was moving,’’ Gbahabo said.(NAN)
DE/OLAL
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)