By Ori Martins
The former national president of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Chief (Sir) Fan Ndubuoke, has admonished journalists to always be guided by professionalism, patriotism, and ethics in the discharge of their duties, no matter the challenges.
Ndubuoke, a member of the 1994 NFF board that qualified Nigeria for the World Cup for the first time and equally lifted the Nations Cup for the second time, made this clarion call during a paper he presented at a workshop organized by Imo SWAN in Owerri.
In the presentation of the paper with the theme, The Burden of Finding a Balance Between Patriotism And Professionalism, Ndubuoke who was Imo SWAN chairman said, “The practice of sports journalism in Nigeria has never been a simple vocation. It is a profession shaped by the environment in which it operates – an environment often defined by political presures, economic hardship, institutional decay, and, increasingly, a troubling erosion of values”. He added,
“To understand the burden placed on today’s sportswriter, we must first examine the three operative concepts that frame this discussion: professionalism, patriotism, and ethics”.
The keynote speaker who alongside Emeka Inyama and Onyebuchi Abia founded the first Nigerian sports newspaper, Sports Links, acknowledged that the media does not function in a vacuum.
According to him, “The Journalist must navigate a terrain littered with obstacles – ownership, interests, draconian state laws, safety concerns, hostile working cinditions, and the ever present threat of intimidation.
“The sportswriter, like every journalist, is expected to state facts as they are, without fear or favour. Yet, in doing so, he may step on dangerous toes. His commitment to truth may be interpreted as disloyalty. His insistence on accuracy may be labeled unpatriotic. His refusal to compromise may cost him his job, freedom or even his life.
“This is the dilemma of the Nigerian sports journalist. Where should the sportswriter’s loyalty lie – his profession, the state, or the media owner”?
Again, Ndubuoke, a one time general manager of Heartland FC Owerri, who broke a 13 year non – trophy winning at the club by lifting the Federation Cup back-to-back in 2011/12, noted other challenges the sportswriter faced in the country.
He said, “Beyond the already mentioned burdens lies a deeper, more corresive threat – the pervasive corruption that has reshped the values of our society and by extention, the culture within SWAN. One of the most damaging but often overlooked causes of declining creativity in sports journalism is the shift from professional exellence to political patronage. Many professionals no longer pursue mastery of their craft. Instead, they position themselves for government favour, political connections and easy money. This has produced a generation of sportswriters who are laid – back, unmotivated, and unwilling to challenge themselves”.
The brutal consequence as Ndubuoke observed are loss of investigation spirit, weakening of critical analysis, erosion of independence, decline in creativity and innovation as well as compromise of ethical standards.
“When journalists become beholden to politicians, sports administrators, agents, or scouts, they lose the independence required to elevate the profession. Corruption has not only weakened our work ethic, it has eroded the very foundation upon which SWAN was built”, Ndubuoke enthused.
Taking it further, the chief executive officer of Mr Fans Ltd decried what he called “Illegality and the Ponzi Structure of Sports Administration in Nigeria”. He stated that “A critical but often ignored crisis in Nigeria sports is the illegality and institutional disorder that defines many of our governing bodies. For years, entities like the so called National Sports Commission have operated without firm legal grounding albeit illegally constituted. They function more as administrative improvisations than as statutory institutions with clear mandates, defined powers and enforceable accountability. We keep changing names and structures, yet the fundamental question remains unanswered: What is the legal foundation of our sports governance”?
The pioneer chairman of Imo State Sports Commission added that, “When institutions lack legal clarity, they become easy tools for manipulation. Policies shift with political winds, appointments are made with sentiment, and funds are spent without oversight. In such an environment, corruption is not an aberration – it is the system. This is why sports administration in Nigeria today resembles a ponzi scheme. Money flows from the government budgets into the hands of a small circle administrators and their allies, while very little reaches the athletes, coaches or grassroots programmes.
“Competitions are staged not as a part of a development pathway but as opportunities to cash out. Projects are announced with funfare and abandoned once the funds are justified. No sustainable model exists – only a cycle of extration and comsumption”.
Ndubuoke ended by saying, “Tragically, sections of the sporting press, including SWAN, have often enabled this decay. By celebrating administrators, ignoring illegality, and sometimes participating in the scramble for estacodes and brown envelopes, we have helped sustain a system that produces no real value. If ethics is about accountability, then we must ask: Who is holding these institutions to account? Why should a commission be poorly constituted? Why should a one -man ran board be tolorated? Who is questioning the illegality of their operations? Who is demanding transparency in how sports funds are used”?
Ndubuoke charged the sports journalists thus: “Until we confront the institutional illegality and ponzi style governance at the heart of Nigerian sports, our talk about professionalism, patriotism and ethics will remain empty slogans”.
