By Emma Jemegah
The Chairman of Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria (PFAN) Task Force, Harrison Jalla, has posited that the National Sports Commission (NSC) has presently constituted is an illegal body, stressing that President Ahmed Bola Tinubu needs to properly constitute the body in line with the Section 2 of the National Sports Commission (Establishment ACT), 2023.
According to him, while President Tinubu has done well in funding the body and appointing the duo of Mallam Shehu Dikki and Bukola Olapade as chairman and Director General respectively, the Commission should be properly constituted in line with the constitution establishing it.
Jalla stressed that the Act establishing the commission clearly stated all the components have to be represented to make it function optimally.
“The Establishment ACT, 2023 clearly defined it’s membership to include the chairman, the Director General, the head of schools sports in the Federal Ministry responsible for education, the permanent secretary Federal Ministry of Sports or his representative, representative of National Association of Physical Education, Recreational Sports and Dance, Chairman of state Directors of Sports forum, two representatives from the organized private sector, the Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for Sports and representative of military and Para-military agencies.
“Others are representative of Institutional Sports (NUGA, NIPOGA and NICEGA), Association of Retired Sportsmen and Women, a representative of Nigeria Medical Association, who shall be a sports medical expert, a representative of persons living with disability in sports, Nigeria Football Federation, a representative of the Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria (PFAN), Sports writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and six chairmen of states Sports Councils representing the sports zones to serve on rotational basis of two years per state,” he said.
Jalla insists running the NSC with just two members out of the 17 members that made up commission since October last year is an aberration and contrary to the NSC establishment ACT 2023.
The PFAN chairman said to give legal backing to the activities of the NSC, President Tinubu must, without further delay, inaugurate the National Sports Commission Board in consonance with the National Sports Commission Establishment Act 2023.
“The National Sports Commission remains a defective structure without a functional board, and all its activities currently lack the force of law,” he submitted.