Peace finally returned to the Badminton Federation of Nigeria, BFN after months of legal tussle which prevented them from holding elections into the board.
The federation which had their election Thursday in the board room of the Permenent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Abuja saw Barrister Francis Orbih, South-West representative returned as the president of the Federation in an overwhelming 10 to 0 vote.
Alhaji Maina Mohammed from the North-West was also re-elected unopposed as Vice- President.
And reacting to the victory, a very happy Orbih expressed joy that the whole crisis which rocked the Federation was now a thing of past, declaring further the board’s readiness to go to work immediately considering the fact that they have have lost some grounds because of the delays caused by the legal tussle.
He assured that the new board would work in harmony, and and also work in synergy with the Sports Ministry with a view to developing the sport in the country.
“I will say that it has been quite challenging looking at the other sports that had their boards inaugurated and have taken off, and running with activities of their various sports . We felt like been left behind and nothing was going on. So, I can tell you that it is a very huge relief for the badminton family in Nigeria now that we have been able to have our elections today and we have the new board inaugurated by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports.
“Yes, we lost some grounds but it is not so much that we cannot makeup I must tell you because we already had our calender marped out for the year . So, we will look at what is possible to push forward and those we can’t we carry on from where we are presently. So, I can tell you that the board is ready to hit the ground and running.
Speaking on the priority of the board in this new dispensation, he said, “I must tell you that after the last four years, looking at the achievements, we would look at areas where we felt we would definitely would have done better, areas like the grassroots, age grade tournaments, and then the technical development of the game. we did well in the umpire, we have an Africa umpire who is certainly going to become a world umpire. But for coaches we did not have too many trainings and too many refresher courses . I mean the technical aspect of the game has to move with the growth generally. So, for us we are going to focus on the technical aspect and the grassroots development. We are taking badminton to schools, we are already looking in that direction before now, its just a matter of activating and moving faster,” the BFN President stated.
Meanwhile, the Permenent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Abubakar who inaugurated the new board, urged the members to rise to the occasion.
He charged the board to be guided by the established processes, procedures and the Code of Governance of the National Sports Federations in the discharge of its responsibilities.
“The task of deepening the development of the badminton sport now squarely rests on your shoulders.
“Teamwork is key to achieving the Board’s goals and objectives. I salute the sheer sense of patriotism with which each of you voluntarily contested to be part of this national assignment, which comes without any form of remuneration.
“You are required to bring your BFN Constitution to be in consonance with the Ministry’s 2021 Code of Governance before the end of June 2022,” the Permanent Secretary said.
The board other members are: Shehu Warah, Lawal Bello, Obiageli Solaja and Felix Tangbe, representing North-Central, North-East, South-East and South-South respectively.
Others are: Grace Gabriel (athletes’ representative), Esther Gidado (NAWIS representative), Tunde Kazeem (NAPHER-SD representative) and Malik Anas (sponsors/philanthropists/ex-officio’s representative).
The rests are TY Etuku (representative of institutions) and George Shitta (technical officials’ representative).
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