Don blames collegiate sports crisis on poor governance

The Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Education, Kontagora, Prof. Faruk Rashid-Haruna, has identified legal, ethical and governance deficits as major factors fuelling the crisis in collegiate and global sports.

Rashid-Haruna said the growing emphasis on medals, institutional prestige and financial rewards had encouraged a “win-at-all-costs” culture capable of undermining the values of sports.

He spoke yesterday in Kano while delivering the keynote address at the 54th National Conference and Workshop of the Nigeria Association for Physical, Health Education, Recreation, Sports and Dance (NAPHER-SD).

The conference, holding at Bayero University, Kano, from September 15 to 19, has the theme, “Transparency, Integrity and Accountability in Sports, Health and Education.”

The keynote address was titled, “Legal, Ethical and Governance Considerations in Global and Collegiate Sports: Addressing Systemic Crises and Institutional Corruption.”

Rashid-Haruna said sports, physical education, health education, recreation and dance were important platforms for teaching cooperation, discipline, leadership, citizenship and respect for others.

He said their credibility depended on transparency in decision-making, responsible management of resources, protection of participants and fair application of rules.

According to him, the pursuit of medals, prestige and commercial visibility could encourage doping, manipulation of eligibility, match-fixing, bribery, violence, harassment and unsafe participation.

“These problems are failures of transparency, integrity and accountability with consequences for athlete health, educational values, institutional reputation and public trust,” he said.

The vice-chancellor recalled that the Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA), established in 1966, was founded to promote social interaction, youth development and peaceful competition among university students.

He, however, said the legitimate desire to excel could become destructive when athletes, coaches and administrators placed success above the manner in which it was achieved.

To address the challenges, Rashid-Haruna proposed an integrated governance framework involving transparent financial management, independent oversight, verified athlete accreditation, safeguarding systems, health and safety protocols and ethical education.

He also called for protected channels for reporting misconduct and the introduction of measurable indicators for assessing integrity in sports.

The don urged the government to establish a national integrity framework linking anti-corruption measures with athlete welfare, safeguarding, health and education, while providing predictable funding for university sports.

He further called on universities to treat sports as part of their educational mission and assess their programmes based on participation, learning, health and integrity outcomes, rather than medal counts alone.

Rashid-Haruna also recommended a harmonised eligibility and biometric accreditation system for NUGA competitions and urged sports professionals to put the welfare of participants above competitive success.

“In conclusion, sport should reward excellence, but excellence must include honesty, safety, fairness and responsibility,” he said.