By Goodluck Ikiebe.
The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, in keeping with its promise of holding the National Sports Federations Elections on September 30, 2021, has released the Guidelines for the conduct of the upcoming elections into the Boards of Sports Federations in the Country.
A statement by the Director, Press and Public Relations, Mr Mohammed Manga said the Election Guidelines which spelt out the composition of the Board, Eligibility, Electoral Committees, Election Regulations, Elections Petition Committee, Electoral Appeals Committee, Inauguration, among others, is to be conducted by the respective National Sports Federations, with the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and the National Olympic Committee (NOC) acting as election monitors.
According to the Guidelines, each Board shall comprise the President, 1 Vice President, 11 other members or as provided for in their relevant constitution or statute; and a Secretary-General as prescribed in the Code of Governance.
The membership of each Board it says, shall be drawn from the 6 Zonal Representatives (each representing a Geo-Political zone in the country); One (1) Athletes’ Representative of the Sport; One (1) Institutional Sports Representative; Representative of International Sports body of the Sport; Representative of the National Association of Women in Sports (NAWIS); One (1) Representative of the National Association of Physical, Health Education, Recreation, Sports and Dance (NAPHER-SD); One (1) Philanthropist or an Ex-officio member as well as a Representative of Coach and Officiating official (Technical Bodies of the Sport).
The statement says the Guidelines which pegged the West African School Certificate (WASC) or its equivalent for any candidate that will be eligible for membership of the Board of a National Sports Federation, stated that he or she should not be less than 25 years or more than 80 years as at the date of election except in the case of athlete representative, who may be below 25 but not less than 18 years of age, as at the time of election.
It added that Athletes’ representative shall in addition be active athlete or must have retired from active sports not more than 4 years prior to the election and must have represented Nigeria in at least 2 major international competitions with no drug related infraction among other requirements.
The statement further stated that the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development is to set up an electoral committee to monitor and supervise the National Sports Federations elections while the Zonal Co-ordinator of the Ministry shall conduct Zonal elections, which shall be done by secret ballot with the result announced immediately after the conclusion of the elections by the Chairman of the Electoral Committee.
The Guidelines also contain provisions for petitions, appeals, 2021 National Sports Federations elections timelines as well as National Sports Federations Code of Governance and also noted that all electoral boards of the National Sports Federation are to be inaugurated by the Honourable Minister of Youths and Sports Development, at a date convenient for him but not later than 4 weeks from the conclusion of election.
The Ministry also wishes to state that all Nigerians who have the interest and passion for their identified sports and candidates are free to download the 2021 National Sports Federations Elections Guidelines as well as National Sports Code of Governance 2021 at the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development website: www.youthandsport.gov.ng/; www.noya.ng.
