The idiom “Procrastination is the thief of time”, according to Wikipedia, was coined in 1742 by a poet named Edward Young.
The idiom was, however, popularized by Charles Dickens, one of the most famous and successful writers in 19th-century England.
Procrastination doesn’t just steal time, it steals opportunities and reduces your potential to make hay or succeed in your venture.
Why have I gone this far to talk about procrastination? It is because of a piece written by a colleague, Oluchi Tobechukwu titled: A Father’s Heart : How Bukola Olopade is Healing The Rift To Bring Our Stars Home.
Tobechukwu is one of the newest media aides to Hon. Olopade, the Director General of the National Sports Commission, NSC.
Olopade, no doubt, is a restless man who wants to carve a niche for himself in any endeavour he is involved in.
It is therefore not misplaced when Tobechukwu eulogized him in these words “the DG (Olopade) navigated the complex and sensitive cases of Nigeria’s fastest athletes, Favour Ofili and Favour Ashe”, two Nigerian athletes who tried to switch allegiance to other countries in protest of how they were treated by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN.
Our elders say that it is better to strike an iron when it is hot because that is when you can mold it into the shape you want.
Once you procrastinate, the iron becomes non-malleable and your desire becomes unachievable.
That is exactly what happened with the case of Favour Ofili who decided to, unfortunately, switch allegiance to Turkey even though it didn’t pull through at the end of the day.
I fault the leadership of the NSC as represented by the Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko and the Director General, Hon. Olopade because their procrastination led to Ofili finally carrying out her threat to dump Nigeria.
I say so because on May 11, 2025 I wrote on this Column a piece titled ‘Revisiting the Alao Committee Report’ which recommended among other things that “the (AFN) officials be penalised by appropriate authorities and that the AFN should pay the sum of N8 million to Ofili for “the disappointment and depression that she suffered on account of her omission (from her event)”.
I ended that piece by saying Ofili’s action was a “result of ‘burying’ the Alao Committee report. And it is the fault of both Dikko and Olopade, the helmsmen at the NSC”, because they failed to look into the report of the panel Senator Enoh set up.
They are lucky that the World Athletics denied Turkey the request to have Ofili switch allegiance to their country because many more would have joined her going by the treatment meted out to athletes by the AFN which the NSC is supposed to be supervising.
This is why I find it shocking that the same AFN seems to be celebrating Ofili’s ‘disappointment’ when in fact they should be remorseful and appeal to her to forgive them and return to the athletics family.
Reacting to the World Athletics decision recently, AFN president, Tonobok Okowa emphasized the need for unity among the Athletics family and that the federation has left the door open for Ofili and is ready to support her, calling her a “daughter and sister”.
He however, forgot that he previously maintained that Ofili’s attempt to switch nationality to Turkey was “driven by financial motivation—specifically a $500,000 grant and $1m in bonuses—rather than just the frustration over administrative negligence she cited”.
This was unfortunate coming from a man who is supposed to be a father figure to athletes and reassure them of the readiness of the Federation to meet their needs and in fact apologize for the mistakes of his officials.
Another bigwig of the athletics fraternity, Chief Solomon Ogba, himself a former president of the AFN reacted in not too encouraging words.
While hailing the WA decision, he described it as victory for Nigeria and other developing countries which “invest heavily in nurturing athletes, only to see them recruited by economically powerful countries”.
I then ask, what is the use of investing heavily in nurturing athletes for major competitions like the Olympic Games and the athletes train for months for it only for them to be denied participation.
Denying an athlete such once in a lifetime opportunity, in some cases, and then refusing to implement the recommendation by a panel the sports ministry set up which is aimed at pacifying the same athlete is not only heartrending but callous on the part of the sports administrators.
It is unfortunate that both Okowa and Ogba who incidentally are from the same Delta State as Ofili and in fact contributed to her rise in the sport, never did anything to pacify her by ensuring that she was compensated for her emotional trauma as recommended by the Alao Committee but got involved in celebrating her perceived loss in her denial by WA.
Rather than urge Nigerian athletes to remain committed to their home country, arguing that the grass is not always greener elsewhere, Chief Ogba should advise our sports administrators to make the Nigerian sports grass as green as the ones the athletes seek outside.
It is also pertinent to urge the NSC, as the supervising body of all sports Federations, to monitor them very closely to ensure they follow the template provided by it for the smooth running of sports and proper welfare of the athletes.
Immediately therefore, Dikko and Olopade should dig out the Alao Committee report and implement the recommendations as it affects Ofili.
That is the only way she would feel comfortable to return back home and pursue her career representing the country patriotically as she has always done.
That is the only way too the Olive branch Tobechukwu said Olopade has extended to Ofili would make sense and prevent other athletes from thinking of dumping Nigeria also.
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