
Adamawa State Commissioner of Youths and Sports, Hon Aloysius Augustine Baba Doke, and the Executive Director of the Sports Council, Mrs. Esther Dominic are now flexing their muscles over what is described as questionable distribution and administration of funds allocated to the Sports Council, an Agency operating under the parent Ministry by the Adamawa state government.
Investigations conducted by the Pioneer News revealed that the Commissioner of the parent Ministry of Sports has ordered the Director of Sports Council to step aside to give room for a conducive investigative atmosphere into the disbursement of the Twenty- five Million Naira released to the Council for Adamawa Contingents who participated at the recently concluded National Sports Festival held in Asaba, Delta State.
The commissioner has also constituted a 5-man Investigative panel to investigate the administration of the monthly twelve million naira funds allocation to the Adamawa United Football Club in the wake of the perceived poor performance profile and dwindling fortunes of the Adamawa United FC.
This is all coming on the heels of the dismal performance of the Club which returned home with only one Gold, and three Bronze Medals to appear in the twenty-seventh position of the overall medals table; a performance even considered as an improvement and the highest so far compared to its traditional performance over the past decade.
The Pioneer Newspaper correspondents also learned that while the Commissioner is claiming that the action of the parent Ministry was genuinely motivated to improve Sports administration and to check certain excesses hampering sports development in the state, the suspended subtle observers have alleged that the action of the commissioner was a “wrap payback” to the refusal of the female executive director to respond to the demand of five million nairas kicks back out of the twenty-five million nairas approved and released to the Council.
Sources close to the Sports Council told our correspondent that the one million nairas monthly running cost to the Council to sponsor activities of no fewer than twenty-five sporting associations and the administrative responsibilities of the Council was grossly inadequate.
The same sources have accused the commissioner of deliberately violating and disrespecting the civil service procedure where the most senior officer takes over administrative responsibilities in the event of departure, retirement, or suspension of a substantive officer.
According to Pioneer’s findings, the Executive Director was yet to submit a report on the Delta assignment as demanded by the parent ministry.
Dependable sources who spoke to Pioneer on the condition of anonymity said that some of the factors hampering sports development in the state include, lack of befitting office accommodation at the sports council since the Bomb blast witnessed around the Area, absence of a befitting stadium, preference for nonprofessionals above professionals to form the management team and unnecessary internal wranglings.
The same sources appealed to the Adamawa state government to dispense and direct its energies towards revamping sports in the state to achieve the all-around success of the present administration.
According to the sources, the Fintiri administration had recorded significant progress in intramural development with the construction of the first-grade interchange flyover with solar lights, Rural Access roads, and other basic infrastructure.
When his comment was sought on the developments under his ministry, the commissioner of Youths and sports, Hon Aloysius Augustine Baba Doke dismissed the five million naira allegation, describing it as frivolous and a face-saving measure.
” I released the amount myself for the tournament. We are aware of the poor welfare conditions of our Athletes and Officials at the tournament. That is why we demanded a report and we constituted investigative committees to right the wrongs.
” The governor is already doing good work to revamp the sports industry. The state government has entered into a contract to develop our abandoned stadium in phases due to suffocating financial implications.
“We have also started construction and rehabilitation of the damaged structures at the sports council occasioned by the Bomb blast. If the government is spending much on the sector, we need to see corresponding results and that is why we set up investigative committees.
“We are not satisfied with what is happening in the industry. When Fintiri assumed leadership of the state, he had to overhaul the leadership because some unprofessionals were given responsibilities.
“It is equally not true that we asked a junior staff to take over from the Executive Director whom we asked to step aside for investigation. The usual practice is to hand it over to the most senior officer. Probably, you have not been fed with the correct information”, he argued.
(Pioneer news)