Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has declared that Nigeria’s sporting fortunes collapsed after his exit from office in 2019, warning that the country has little hope of qualifying for the World Cup.
Dalung, a lawyer and political activist, said his tenure marked a golden era in Nigerian sports, with landmark achievements across multiple disciplines.
“Since I left in 2019, Nigerian sports has gone down completely. They have never even smelled where the World Cup is. There is no hope they will even smell it this time because they are already at the bottom of the table,” he said.
He recalled leaving Nigeria as champions in at least ten sports, with world records and continental dominance under his watch. According to him, the women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, set an “unbeatable record” by becoming the first African team to reach the quarterfinals of the 2018 FIBA World Cup in Spain, moving from 32nd to 8th in global rankings after defeating Greece, Turkey, and Argentina.
Dalung lamented that the team was later banned due to unpaid allowances despite presidential approval of ₦1 billion to reward their historic performance. “These girls were humiliated and maltreated, yet they lifted Nigeria’s flag to world standards,” he said.
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He also listed successes in cricket, scrabble, and female football during his tenure, insisting Nigeria was a continental force until 2019.
Turning to government policies, Dalung condemned the scrapping of the Sports Ministry by the Tinubu administration, calling it “one of the worst decisions ever taken.”
“Sports is diplomacy. The Minister of Sports sits on global bodies and speaks for Nigeria. As it is now, sports has no representation in the cabinet. The chairman of the National Sports Commission is not a cabinet member and cannot exercise the powers of a minister. He cannot even sit at international meetings of sports ministers,” he argued.
The former minister, who chaired the African Sports Ministers Forum from 2015 to 2019, warned that Nigeria has lost its global influence in sports diplomacy and deprived its youth of opportunities in a multi-trillion-dollar industry.
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Dalung also reflected on the controversies of his tenure, saying his insistence on accountability put him at odds with powerful interests in sports federations. “In sports, the actors pray and fast for failure more than success because international competitions come with multiple streams of funding, much of which ends up in private pockets. When I asked questions, they called it interference,” he said.
He credited the Nigerian media for keeping him accountable despite heavy criticism of his style. “They thought they were trying to bring me down, but they set me on the path of greatness,” he added.
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