Following reports of alleged medal rigging by states and sports ministry officials at the 2022 National Sports Festival in Delta State,
The sports commissioner, Kogi State, Musa Idris and sports broadcaster Charles Anazodo, blamed the manual methodology used to collect the medals, noting that it gave way to errors and manipulations. PUNCH rsports
Idris advised the sports ministry and the organizers to adopt electronic and computerized means of collecting medals as is done in global competitions.
“You know what happens in Africa, our methodology is quite different from the rest of the world. In Nigeria, you have to follow closely to ensure that the medals are properly registered,” Idris told The PUNCH.
“In international competitions they use automatic recorders and it’s in real time, before leaving that event, the result is received electronically, but what we used in sports festivals is recorded manually, which gives room for the results. manipulated”.
Anazodo asked the sports ministry to adopt a computerized counting model, stressing that it will eliminate the padding of medals.
“In the last sports festival, the medal count was done manually and that is the reason for the medal count. Everything in today’s world is computerized and that should be included in all our competitions,” Anazodo said. PUNCH.
“We can’t count medals for people by hand, that’s not done anymore. The upcoming presidential election is a few weeks away and the electronic system is what INEC is using to count the votes.
“We should do that in sports too, it’s not rocket science. I’m not sure anyone can say they haven’t made a mistake when counting, especially when you’re counting large sums of money, it’s possible to make mistakes due to a lack of concentration.”
“Computerization, as in everything we do, is very essential, especially when it is related to big competitions like the National Sports Festival, it is something we have to take; it will help to eliminate these errors.”
The sports ministry had set up a committee to look into medal compliance complaints, but the committee is yet to submit its reports.
Team Delta emerged as the overall winner of the competition with 648 medals, 320 gold, 200 silver and 128 bronze medals. Team Bayelsa came second with 337 medals, 132 gold, 115 silver and 90 bronze, Team Edo came third with 339 medals, 78 gold, 94 silver and 167 bronze.
However, two more medal tables followed, after some state officials protested vehemently because of the huge gold medals added to the state’s winnings, which they did not win.
