‘You Don’t Reap Where You Didn’t Sow — Stop the Infiltration of Nigerian Sports by the Unqualified’

Across Nigeria’s sports landscape, a disturbing trend is taking root: a quiet hijack by individuals who have no real history, sacrifice, or experience in athletics or sport, now forcing their way into management roles to control what they never built.

These are not coaches, not former athletes, not trainers, not people who understand the discipline, pain, and pride behind the sport.

Instead, they are career opportunists—paper-pushers, protocol hawks, and politically connected figures—who never lifted a toe on a track, never invested in grassroots development, never faced the heartbreak of competition, but now feel entitled to dictate the future of Nigerian athletes.

Let’s be honest: Nigerian sports are suffering not for lack of talent, but from a leadership crisis. And it is driven by individuals who are completely disconnected from the realities of competition, training, recovery, and development.

These people did not sow into the sport.
They did not sweat, bleed, or sacrifice. And yet, they now sit on boards, run federations, and influence policies—deciding the fates of real athletes.

How did we get here?
It is a product of a system that values proximity to power over merit, connections over contributions, and politics over performance.

This system allows administrators who have no business in sports—some of whom wouldn’t recognize a javelin if it landed at their feet—to secure top positions through backdoor arrangements, inflated titles, and manipulated guidelines. And the result?

Declining international performances, broken athlete pipelines, and widespread frustration from those who actually care about the sport.

It is an insult to every athlete who trained under the hot sun without shoes. An insult to every coach who volunteered with no salary. And an insult to every Nigerian who cheered for glory on the global stage only to watch it squandered by bureaucracy.

Let us be clear: sports should be managed by people who understand sports. Former athletes. Coaches. Trainers. Those who know the sacrifices, who feel the rhythm of the game, and who have paid their dues in sweat, not paper memos.

This is not to say that administrators have no place, but their role should be to support—not control—the technical and developmental direction of sports.

Leadership should be earned by service and sacrifice, not by favoritism and office politics. Until Nigeria gets this right, we will keep losing—not just medals, but the hearts of our youth, the promise of potential, and the pride that comes from true national representation.

We must stop allowing ministries, federations, and associations to be dumping grounds for people who have no passion or past in the field. We must build a sports system where experience is valued over affiliation, and where leadership is trusted because it was earned on the field, not given in a file room.

Athletics, football, wrestling, basketball—every sport in this country deserves better than what they’re getting from boardroom imposters. The time has come to clean house and reclaim our
institutions for those who truly built them.

This is not a call for division. It is a call for integrity. For honor. For merit. You should not be allowed to reap where you did not sow. Not in sports. Not in life.
By Kenny Aladefa MD, MBA, OLY.