THE president of the Nigerian Volleyball Federation, NVBF, Mr. Habu Gumel, and some officials of the Corporate Affairs Commission in Abuja may have connived to perpetuate an unpatriotic sabotage of about three thousand dollar-worth initiative to revive and sustain the game of volleyball in Nigeria.
The two bodies were said to have acted in collusion to thwart the registration of a non-profit organization, Nigerian Volleyball Players Association, being floated by some former Nigerian volley players, and others still in active sporting, to give back to Nigeria by organizing coaching clinics, summer camps along with material and resource donations to inspire a new generation of highly-skilled players of the game.
According to facts made available to sharpedgenews.com, the NVBF president, Mr. Gumel, who is said to be notoriously territorial, possessive and never tolerant of any rivalry, allegedly approached some big functionaries of the Corporate Affairs Commission and the Nigerian Sports Commission to make sure that the organization which would have funneled millions of naira into the development of the game, is not registered.
Gumel, the longest-serving president of any such local federation in Nigeria, who never actively played volleyball in any capacity, was foisted on accomplished coaches and players by successive military governments and has managed to hold on to the leadership of the game in Nigeria. Victims of several twists and turns in his roles in the Federation said that the huge undeclared grants from International Volleyball Federation, IVBF, is the reason why Gumel would always want to shut-out other stakeholders from joining in uplifting the fortunes of the game in which Nigeria’s outings have been woeful in recent times.
Sharpedgenews.com was also reliably informed that the old players who live in the United States and Canada “wanted to contribute tangibly, but do not want to do anything without a trail, (and) that was why contributions were made and given to (a recipient of their own choosing – name withheld) who has not come back to tell the association that Gumel and the Corporate Affairs Commission said that Nigeria has a law that disallows the registration of any such body.
If indeed there are any such laws in Nigeria, it would be expected, as a matter of integrity that the money sent for registration would be returned. It is now such that members of the volleyball association in the disapora now feel that “Nigeria doesn’t love us, but they love our money.”
A source privy to the initial efforts of the non-profit known as the Nigerian Volleyball Players Association said that Gumel, an engineer, was excited about working with the players at the beginning, but when the opinion of the director-general of the National Sports Commission, Mr. Patrick Ekeji, was sought, confusion held sway.
According to the insider, Patrick Ekeji and the NSC blocked the recognition and registration of the organization, thinking it would do more than assist the growth of the game and transmute into a rival federation to the NVBF.
The disturbing peak to the entire saga is the disappearance of the volleyball players association file. The file is said to have gone untraceable after Ekeji gave his self-serving opinion on the matter. It is said to be somewhere between the Sports Commission and the NVBF. No one is owing up to the whereabouts of the registration documents and the money. The simple avoidable issue of name conflict is a regular occurrence at the Corporate Affairs Commission, thus exposing the inefficiency with the development data and name reconciliation and recognition.
An advanced system would know that the names Nigeria Volleyball Federation would be different and not the same thing as Nigerian Volleyball Players Association. Diaspora Nigerians run into ridiculous rules that shut them out and often walk away accomplishing nothing when trying to start business in their home country.