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By Ori Martins
Former National President of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Chief (Sir) Fan Ndubuoke, has admonished journalists to always be guided by professionalism, patriotism and ethics in carrying out their duties, no matter the challenges.
Ndubuoke, a 1994 NFF board member who qualified Nigeria for the World Cup for the first time and similarly lifted the Nations Cup for the second time, made this clarion call during a paper presented at a seminar organized by Imo SWAN in Owerri.
In the presentation of the document with the theme “The burden of finding a balance between patriotism and professionalism”, Ndubuoke, president of Imo SWAN, 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 pressures, economic difficulties, institutional decay and, increasingly, a worrying erosion of values.” He added,
“To understand the burden placed on today’s sports journalist, we must first examine the three operational concepts that frame this discussion: professionalism, patriotism and ethics.”
The keynote speaker who together with Emeka Inyama and Onyebuchi Abia founded Nigeria’s first sports newspaper, Sports Links, acknowledged that the media does not operate in a vacuum.
According to him, “The journalist must navigate a terrain littered with obstacles: ownership, interests, draconian state laws, security concerns, hostile working conditions and the ever-present threat of intimidation.
“The sports journalist, like any journalist, is expected to state the facts as they are, without fear or favor. However, in doing so, he may be treading on dangerous toes. His commitment to the truth may be interpreted as disloyalty. His insistence on accuracy may be labeled unpatriotic. His refusal to compromise may cost him his job, his freedom, or even his life.
“This is the Nigerian sports journalist’s dilemma. Where should the sports journalist’s loyalty lie: his profession, the state or the media owner”?
Again, Ndubuoke, former general manager of Heartland FC Owerri, who broke a 13-year trophyless streak at the club by winning back-to-back Federation Cups in 2011/12, noted other challenges the sports journalist has faced in the country.
He said: “Beyond the burdens already mentioned lies a deeper and more corrective threat: the pervasive corruption that has revamped the values of our society and, by extension, the culture within SWAN. One of the most damaging but often overlooked causes of the decline of creativity in sports journalism is the shift from professional excellence to political patronage. Many professionals no longer pursue mastery of their craft. Instead, they position themselves for government favor, political connections and easy money. This has produced a generation of sports journalists who are relaxed, unmotivated and unwilling to challenge themselves.”
The brutal consequences, as Ndubuoke noted, are the loss of the investigative spirit, the weakening of critical analysis, the erosion of independence, the decline of creativity and innovation, as well as the compromise of ethical standards.
“When journalists become beholden to politicians, sports administrators, agents or scouts, they lose the independence needed to elevate the profession. Corruption has not only weakened our work ethic, but has eroded the very foundation on which SWAN was built,” enthused Ndubuoke.
Going further, the CEO of Mr Fans Ltd denounced what he called “Lawlessness and Ponzi Structure of Sports Administration in Nigeria”. He stated that “A critical but often ignored crisis in Nigerian sport is the lawlessness and institutional disarray that defines many of our governing bodies. For years, entities such as the so-called National Sports Commission have operated without a solid legal basis, even if illegally established. They function more as administrative improvisations than as statutory institutions with clear mandates, defined powers and executive accountability. We continue to change names and structures, but the fundamental question remains unanswered: what is the legal basis of our sports governance”?
The pioneering chairman of the Imo State Sports Commission added that: “When institutions lack legal clarity, they become easy instruments of manipulation. Policies change with the political winds, appointments are made with feeling 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 government budgets into the hands of a small coterie of administrators and their allies, while very little reaches the athletes, coaches or grassroots programs.
“Competitions are not organized as part of a development journey but as revenue opportunities. Projects are announced with funfare and abandoned once funds are justified. There is no sustainable model, only a cycle of extraction and consumption.”
Ndubuoke concluded by saying: “Tragically, sections of the sports press, including SWAN, have often enabled this decay. By celebrating administrators, ignoring lawlessness and sometimes engaging in the rush 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 holds these institutions accountable? Why should a commission be poorly constituted? Why should a one-man board of directors be tolerated? question the illegality of their operations. Who demands transparency on the use of sports funds”?
Ndubuoke accused sports journalists: “Until we address institutional lawlessness and Ponzi-style governance at the heart of Nigerian sports, our talk of professionalism, patriotism and ethics will remain empty slogans.”
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