Senator Shehu Sani who represented Kaduna Central in the 8th Senate said more attention should be given to other sports especially medal producing sports.
Former Governorship Aspirant in Kaduna State frowned at allocating over 80% of the sports budget to football alone.
Sani told www.aclsports.com that investing hugely in Boxing, Wrestling, Taekwondo, Judo, Karate and Athletics can make Nigeria win medals and not struggle at the Olympics.
He said, “I have said it repeatedly when you go to the Olympics, there are hundreds of sports featuring there and football is just one gold medal. We cannot allocate almost 80% of our sports budget to football; we should allocate more funds to swimming, Athletics, Tennis, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Archery, cycling and many others.
“Nigeria is a nation of over 200 million people, we should not be concentrating only on football. I love football and was once a footballer in my younger days and I still play football but I think it is time for us to start giving the needed attention to other sports in Nigeria.
“When Kenya, Jamaica, Uganda goes to the Olympics, they end up returning home with over 6 gold medals and they are not a footballing nation but when Nigeria attends the Olympics, it is as if we are going to the FIFA World Cup; everyone will be thinking that football teams (men and women) are the main priority.
“We should invest in Boxing, Wrestling, Taekwondo, Judo, Karate and Athletics so that we can win medals for ourselves. I am not happy when we go to the Olympics and struggle on the medals table because we always think our football teams should win first; I think that is very wrong.
Senator Sani revealed to www.aclsports.com that plans are underway to set up a basketball academy in Kaduna.
He said, “Discussion are ongoing for me to set up a basketball academy in Kaduna and I believe it time for Nigerians think of investing in something other than football.
