By Orkula Shaagee, Abuja

Today, Nigeria will clock 60 years as an Independent state, having attained Independence in 1960 from the colonial masters.

As expected, Nigerians would roll out the drums in celebration of the country’s independence, and the sporting community will not be left out.

The story of Nigerian sports is no doubt a mix bag of success, failure and disappointment in the last 60 years as the country’s athletes and teams have won laurels and either crashed out of failed to qualify for international sporting competitions.

At different occasions, Nigerian athletes and teams have also been banned from taking part i continental and international competitions  as a result of doping violations and age cheat. 

It is common knowledge that even as Nigeria has not lived up to her potentials in sports, the sector has remained one of the country’s most potent agent of unity just as it is a serious diplomatic tool. However, the general consensus has remained that Nigerian sports has failed to achieve its full potentials as the country’s sportsmen and women have been blowing hot and cold at international competitions since Independence.

Within this period, Nigeria has produced sportsmen and women that have made the nation proud at regional, continental and international sports competitions.

Though they are many, the ones that easily come to mind are the late Dick Tiger and Hogan Bassey, both world boxing champions; ex-Olympians as Isaac Ikhuoria, Peter Konyegwachi, Chioma Ajunwa, Faliat Osheku Ogunkoya, Segun Toriola, Jay Jay Okocha, Emmanuel Amunike, Kanu Nwankwo, Funke Oshonaike and Olusoji Fasugba.

Others are Late Rashidi Yekini, Innocent Egbunike, Mercy Mku, Fatima Yusuf, Chidi Imoh, Bose Kaffo, Hakeem Olajuwon, Nduka Odizor, Atanda Musa, Late Stephen Keshi, Nduka Odizor, Late Mike Opara, David Imonite, John Mikel Obi, Blessing Okagbare, among several others.

These sportsmen and women have etched Nigeria’s name in gold among sporting nations of the world, but most Nigerians believes that the country has failed to achieve her full potentials in sports when compared with less populated and endowed African countries like Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia in world athletics and the Olympics.

It is pertinent to recall that even before Independence; some Nigerians had made appreciable impact in global sports. Such Nigerians who come to mind are Emmanuel Ifejina who won a gold medal in high jump at the 1954 Commonwealth Games; Hogan Kid Bassey emerged World Featherweight Boxing champion in 1957, as well as Dick Tiger who won the Middleweight title and later the World Light Heavyweight crown. These were indeed remarkable feats that prepared the ground for Nigeria’s exploits after independence.

The country took part in three Commonwealth Games prior to independence. The first was at the Auckland edition in 1950, second was in Vancouver in 1954 and third being in Cardiff in 1958. In all these three Games. The country won a gold medal, five silver medals and four bronze medals. Nigeria did not win any medal at the Helsinki and Melbourne Olympics in 1852 and 1956 respectively.

After independence Nigeria gradually shook off the shackles of colonialism and began the process of development in all spheres. The country’s first Olympic medalist was the Light Middleweight Boxer, Nojim Maiyegun who won bronze at the Tokyo 1964 Games.

It was the first ever medal won in an Olympic event as the boxer became the first medalist since Team Nigeria’s first participation at the 1952 summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. It did not win any medal at the Rome Olympics in 1960.

However, the first step towards sports development was the setting up of the National Sports Commission (NSC) in 1963 with Late Pa Abraham Ordia as the Secretary. Unfortunately, the immediate past minister of sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung scrapped the commission and sports are now in the care of persons other than trained sports administrators. The clarion call for the return of the NSC has fallen on deaf ears. Thus, early 1960, Nigeria’s emphasis was on putting up structures for sports development and the first fruits no doubt was the qualification of the then Green Eagles for the Olympic Games held in Mexico in 1968.

Nigeria boycotted the 1962 Commonwealth games in Perth but returned in the 1966 edition held in Kingston, Jamaica and in Edinburgh in 1970 winning five gold, four silver and three bronzes.

As part of efforts to boost its performance at international competitions, the country set up the National Sports Festival (NSF) in 1976 help in the discovery of talents, with the first edition in Lagos attended by over 6000 athletes.

In 1973, Nigeria hosted the second edition of the All Africa Games where it placed second.

In 1976 IICC Shooting Stars became the first club to win the country’s first continental football club trophy by winning Africa Cup of Winners, with Rangers International FC of Enugu retaining the trophy the following year.

The achievements recorded by Shooting Stars and Rangers in continental club football became the tonic for Nigeria’s football achievements, as the senior national team – Green Eagles won gold in 1980 edition of Africa Cup of Nations on home soil when the Christian Chukwu captained Green Eagles defeated the Desert Warriors of Algeria 3-0 at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos to lift the continental trophy for the first time.

The feat was followed by another Nations Cup title win in 1984 after the 14-year wait in Tunisia and in the 2013 edition held in South Africa.

Nigeria’s biggest achievement in global football since Independence was in 1985 when the Golden Eaglets beat Germany 2-0 to win the maiden FIFA/KODAK Under-16 championship in China. The Flying Eagles also reached the final of the 1989 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Saudi Arabia before losing to Luis Figo inspired Portugal 2-0.

In athletics, Nigeria won her first track and field medal at the Los Angeles Olympics winning bronze in the 4x400m, though failed to win a single medal at the Seoul Games in 1988. Also during this decade, the country won 38 medals – 10 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze-for taking part in two Commonwealth games in 1982 in Brisbane and Auckland.

Nigeria also won 3 silver and a bronze at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 to announce her potentials in world athletics. At the Atlanta Olympics, the country won its first gold with Chioma Ajunwa’s feat in Long Jump, leaping 7.12m. The Dream Team added gold a day later. In all the country won 2 gold, silver and 3 bronze medals at these Games. Four years later, the country won the 4x400m men’s gold by default after USA team that won the gold was involved in drug. It also won 2 silver in Sydney.

Team Nigeria won the fifth edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1993 in Japan. Nigeria defeated fellow African contenders Ghana by 2-1 in the final.

The Super Eagles also made their first World Cup appearance in the same year in the United States of America (USA), crashing out in the second round. The team also qualified for the 1998 edition in France also crashing out in the second round losing 4-1 to Denmark.

Nigeria has never failed to excel at the Commonwealth Games winning 37 medals-11 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze at the Victoria Games in 1994. Super Falcons qualified for their maiden World Cup crashing out at the group stage after losing all their group games. At the 1995 edition, Falcons also crashed out at the group stage, though they drew a game losing the other two. The team’s World Cup best outing was at the 1999 edition where they reached the quarter-final losing to Brazil by the odd goal in extra time.

But won the women’s AFCON in 1991 retained it in 1995, 1998 and 2000. The team’s maiden Olympics games appearance in 2000 was a huge failure crashing out at the group stage

Although Nigeria has failed to build on the success of Atlanta ’96, the country has recorded other victories in world and continental events like the 2003 All Africa Games she hosted in Abuja and tagged ‘COJA’; the 2007 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in South Korea.

After winning the 2007 U-17 competition play hosted by South Korea, Nigeria became the most successful team at teenage level.

After impressive performance at cadet level, FIFA awarded the hosting rights of the 2009 U-17 World Cup to the nation’s highest football governing body and tournament was successfully staged.

The country won 19 medals-5 gold, 3 silver, 11 bronze- at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002. Also 2006 in Melbourne, 17 medals-4  gold, 6 silver and 7 bronze-were won. In Delhi in 2010 Nigeria won 11 gold, 8 silver and 14 bronze medals.

At Athens Olympics, only 2 bronze medals were won while Beijing Olympics produced 3 silver and 2 bronze.

Nigeria crashed out at the group stage of the 2002 World Cup co-hosted by South Korea/Japan. The team failed to qualify for the 2006 edition in Germany. It made up by qualifying for the first World Cup on Africa soil-South Africa- crashing out at the group stage.

In 2003 Super Falcons crashed out at the group stage of the FIFA World Cup with the same fate also befalling them in 2007. It was the same sad story failing to go past the group stage at the Athens Olympics and the Beijing Olympics. But they made up by retaining the CAF Women’s championship in 2002, 2004, 2006. They lost for the first time in 2008 placing third while they won the trophy in 2010.

Nigeria won the FIFA U-17 World Cup for the fourth time in 2013 edition in The United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In 2015, Nigeria’s senior men’s basketball team, D’Tigers won the AfroBasket Championships for the first time, thus becoming Africa Champions for the first time after failing on several, as the Olumide Oyedeji captained side defeated Angola in the final to win the competition and got automatic qualification spot at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.

At the 2017 FIBA Women’s Afrobasket championships in Bamako, D’Tigress were third time winners of the championships played in Bamako, Mali. The Nigerian team won all six fixtures in the competition including the 65-48 victory against Senegal in the final.

Aruna Quadri competed for Nigeria in the table tennis event at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals in the latter competition. At the World Cup 2014, he reached the quarterfinals in the Men’s Singles competition.

Aruna competed in the 2017 ITTF African-Cup, qualifying for the quarterfinals where he defeated Algerias Naim Karali (4-1). In the semifinals, Aruna defeated Egyptian player Mohamed El-beiali (4-3), qualifying for the finals. In the Finals, Aruna played and defeated long-time rival Omar Assar in a close match (4-3). Aruna won the event, and become the 2017 African-Cup Champion.

Quadri competed in the World Championships seeded as number 30. He defeated Chilean player Gustavo Gómez (4-0). He was defeated in the second round by Danish player and number 34 seed, Jonathan Groth.

He competed in the 2018 ITTF African-Cup, placing first in group 2, allowing him to qualify for the Quarter Finals. In the Quarter Finals, Aruna defeated Derek Abrefa (4-0). In the semifinals, he defeated Ahmed Saleh (4-1), allowing him to advance to the finals of the African-Cup.

In 2014, FIFA suspended Nigeria from international football, citing government interference in the running of its national federation.

The emergency committee of the world governing body said the blanket ban would no Nigerian team, including club sides, can play in regional, continental or international competitions.

In the wake of Nigeria’s exit to France at the last 16 of the World Cup, the high court of the West African country ruled that its federation would cease to run the national team, handing over the role to a government civil servant.

This is in breach of FIFA rules that obliges member associations to manage their own affairs “independently and with no influence from third parties,” it said in a statement.

Stephen Keshi, the coach of the African champions, resigned the day after the 2-0 defeat, after leading the Super Eagles out of the group stages of the World Cup for the first time since 1998.

In 2016, the country’s sports authorities banned eight athletes for doping, four of them gold-medal winners and one a silver medalist at the All Africa Games 2015.

Long jumpers Chinazom Amadi and Samson Idiata, weightlifter Elisabeth Onua and wrestler Patience Opuene were all banned following failed drug tests at the games in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, in September, where they won gold.

Wrestling silver medalist Ebi James Igbadiwei was also suspended.

The three other athletes – sprinter Deborah Odeyemi and para-athletes Sunday Ezeh and Thomas Kure, failed tests in Nigeria. Odeyemi was part of Team Nigeria’s women’s 4 x 100-meter relay team at the 2015 world championships.

Last year, a Nigerian Para powerlifter Esther Oyema was banned for four years after she committed an anti-doping rule violation. Oyema, who won gold at London 2012 in the women’s up to 48kg, returned an adverse analytical finding for a prohibited substance in a urine sample provided on 28 January 2019 after competing at the Lagos 2019 International Para Powerlifting Competition in Nigeria.