And the Best Abuja Supermarket is…

Major supermarkets now dot the Abuja landscape. But how do they rank in terms of the total shopping experience? After repeated visits and using different indicators, Kimberly Ward provides a guide

In the beginning, only the open markets and the corner-shops catered to the shopping needs of Abuja’s then minimal, transient population. Fast forward to 2013 and the capital now boasts a host of large-scale, all-purpose stores; from the mighty multi-national Shoprite to the proudly Nigerian Sahad Stores. But which mega-store provides the best customer service? Which has the largest parking area? And which is the most affordable? We visited 12 supermarkets and rated them on various aspects of the shopping experience.

Rating Code

5 – Excellent

4 – Good

3 – Average

2 – Poor

1 – Very Poor

DUNES

Address: 44, Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja

One of the more accomplished and aesthetically-pleasing department stores, Dunes – which shares a building with offices, a restaurant and a hotel – attracts a clientele of higher-income earners, foreigners and tourists who buy the mostly imported products in the civil and serene environment.

Accessibility: The Dunes multi-storied building is situated in the most expensive area of Abuja and is easily sighted from the road. There’s a good-sized parking area at the front and steps leading up to the neat entrance, though the parking is shared with other businesses within the premises 3/5

In-store: The exterior is chic and modern and the look is maintained inside with a neat and stylish store with well-organised aisles and a composed system of shelving, space and products. The restaurant towards the back somewhat juts out onto the groceries section and you have to walk past diners to get to the escalator-walkway leading up to the second floor, which is neatly stocked with home furnishings and a gift store. The checkout area is small but adequate and well-spaced. The atmosphere of the store is one of serene professionalism. 5/5

Products and Prices: The store stocks mostly foreign imports of both food and home items with an inadequate array of local items, but the quality is high and the home furnishings section upstairs contains unique products you won’t find anywhere else in Abuja. However, the price is dearer than the average supermarket. 3/5

Customer Service: At the gates security personnel check each car with a bomb-detection device, and inside staff presence was minimal but the staff were pleasant when called upon. The cashier at the checkout was polite and there was change available 4/5

TOTAL SCORE: 15/20

 

EXCLUSIVE STORES

Address: Plot 1202, Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja

This 24 hour mega-store is a relatively new addition to the Abuja shopping community and has a mix of shoppers perusing three floors laden with grocery and home-ware.

Accessibility: Located on the busiest road in Abuja, the store is both central and easy to get to but the car-park at the front is smaller than average 4/5

In-store: An awkward turnstile entrance leads to the main store where one of the aisles is wrongly labelled ‘Savoury Snacks’ but has drinks on the shelves. There is a restaurant towards the back and upstairs the home-ware section is cluttered, with some shelves bent under the weight of books piled high. The checkout area is tight and inadequate for the volume of shoppers as the queues extends into the aisles. It is a busy and noisy store downstairs but upstairs sees fewer customers 2/5

Products and Prices: There’s a good variety of grocery products with a good store of both new and second-hand books upstairs.Prices are a little dearer than the average 4/5

Customer Service: Groups of workers sat around chatting or idle, and upstairs two employees pricing items on a small table blocked most of one aisle. At the checkout the cashier was helpful but distracted, talking with a colleague throughout our transaction and didn’t have change. A tired-looking employee sat next to the exit to check receipts. 2/5

TOTAL SCORE: 12/20

GARKI SUPERMARKET

Address: Plot 468, Ahmadu Bello Way, Abuja

Hidden away inside a fenced enclosure housing 212 Bakery, Yahuza Suya and other shops, Garki Supermarket – one of two in Abuja – is a laid-back, medium-sized store with a distinctly Northern feel: it is closed between 12 – 2pm on Friday afternoons for prayers and stocks Northern delicacies.

Accessibility: Off a central main road but somewhat tucked away at the back of the fenced-in shopping centre, it is easy to miss. Cars can be parked anywhere around the large but untarred square but there’s a dedicated parking area in front of the supermarket itself 2/5

In-store: Men selling recharge cards line the entrance, and inside there are wide aisles packed with products on shelves and household goods section where items are arranged on the floor. The interior is neat and the two checkout points are on opposite sides to deter over-crowding. Prices are hand-written on masking tape stuck on the shelves below items 3/5

Products and Prices: An average selection of affordable products including home and electrical with a variety of Northern delicacies including Alkaki which is not available elsewhere 4/5

Customer Service: No security to check any cars and non-uniformed staff – all male – dotted the store, making it hard to tell the customers from store employees. The checkout person was pleasant but aloof and change was available 3/5

TOTAL SCORE: 12/20

GRAND SQUARE

Address: Plot 270, Muhammadu Buhari Way, Central District, Abuja

Described as the ‘Most modern shopping mall in Nigeria,’ Grand Square has over 100 staff and is popular across Abuja for its famous ‘Grand Loaf’ as well as its variety of ice-cream flavours. The store attracts a mixed crowd of shoppers and the atmosphere is usually busy and noisy.

Accessibility: Central and easy to get to, Grand Square also has a good sized-car park 5/5

In-store: You have to walk past the busy checkout area to get into the sizeable interior, and the aisles are on the narrow-side. The grocery area is downstairs and a climb up the (threadbare carpeted) stairs leads to the perfume store, busy photo-studio and other specialist stores upstairs, where a central balcony looks down on the products and customers downstairs. The store is tidy but the checkout area is small and often cramped 3/5

Products and Prices: Wide range of products with a large variety of both grocery, electrical and specialist items, including musical instruments and generators, although price-wise it is on the expensive side 4/5

Customer Service: Groups of employees hung around the store chatting, and the checkout staff did not smile, made no eye-contact and gave no greeting, I also had to move to two different stations before I could get change and checkout my items 3/5

TOTAL SCORE: 15/20

H MEDIX

Address: Plot 48, Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja, Nigeria

What started as a pharmacy over 10 years ago has grown into a well-known retail mart with four branches in Abuja selling a wider variety of products, but still limited to beauty and health items. This store is small but neat and attracts a mix of people.

Accessibility: This branch is located on the busiest road in Abuja. The entrance area is busy with hawkers and the car-park in front is quite close to the store’s doors and only big enough for around 10 cars, leading to queues, long waiting times and clashes with other drivers 3/5

In-store: A small supermarket, with a beauty and household items area downstairs along tight aisles, and a modestly-stocked pharmacy upstairs. The entrance/exit is also a squeeze to navigate but the store is tidy and neatly arranged. Check-out is a high counter by the exit 3/5

Products and Prices: Affordable but limited to health, beauty and bathroom items 4/5

Customer Service: There were uniformed door-openers and store employees seated at the end of the small aisles who stared at you as you walk by. The checkout counter was manned by non-uniformed staff and there was confusion and pushing-in due to lack of imposed order. Service was rushed and having to wait for change to be provided by another employee sitting behind the cashiers was inadequate. 3/5

TOTAL SCORE: 13/20

LEGENDS OF ABUJA

Address: 27, Port Harcourt Crescent, Off Gimbiya Street, Garki Area 11, Abuja

A modest supermarket tucked away on a side street of a main road, Legends is one of the earliest retailers in Abuja and many of its clientele are loyal customers who have been shopping there for years. The small store makes up in charm and character what it lacks in variety and prominence.

Accessibility: Situated on a quiet side street, Legends has a very small car park at the front with space for only around 20 cars. The store’s main signage is tiny and obscured by foliage 2/5

Decor: The store is all on one level and feels cramped with aisles unevenly arranged, boxes piled high and other products stacked haphazardly on the floors. Access to the fridge area is almost totally blocked by items for sale but the store is clean and the two checkout desks are easily accessible. The atmosphere is calm and laid-back 3/5

Products and Prices: Limited amount of basic goods and some of the products – which are slightly on the expensive side – have no price tabs 2/5

Customer Service: There were a few non-uniformed staff around and it was hard to tell customers from employees, but all the employees were friendly and eager to help, the cashier was pleasant and change was available 5/5

TOTAL SCORE: 12/20

NEXT CASH AND CARRY

Address: Ahmadu Bello Way, Kado, Abuja

Opened with fanfare in 2013, Next Cash and Carry is an awe-inspiring edifice situated on 34, 000 square metres of land with a large car park at the front. Similar in style to Walmart or Costco, it stocks almost everything you need for life and is the largest supermarket in Abuja, if not Nigeria.

Accessibility: Located off a not-very-busy, dual-carriage way away from the city centre, the supermarket is easy to get to and the prominent building and signage is easy to spot. The car park is spacious and well-organised with space for 400 vehicles. 5/5

Decor: A ramp leads up to the wide entrance that leads into a sprawling area all on one floor with very high ceilings and numerous wide aisles, with goods either stacked high or placed on low wooden planks on the ground. The product sections are clearly marked and include a pharmacy, eatery and bakery, but the butchery is empty. The un-tiled floors are cracked and uneven, with electric wiring visible and in the way of customers. The store is clean if haphazard and its sheer size and amount of stock adds to the wow factor. Around 40 check-out points are arranged at the front of the store leading to a smooth exit, but there are no shopping baskets, only large shopping trolleys are available. 3/5

Products and Prices: Huge selection of products from household items and home furnishings to clothing and jewellery, electrical appliances, music and books. Items are pricier than average but the popular bread is only N200 4/5

Customer Service: There were uniformed guards at the gate to check each car coming in, a guard stationed at the bakery to organise the bread queues and pleasant uniformed staff available throughout the store. The checkout staff were friendly and change was available 5/5

TOTAL SCORE: 17/20

PARK AND SHOP

Address: 740, Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja

One of the oldest supermarkets in Abuja, Park and Shop is owned by Artee group, the same company behind Spar which has its stores all over Nigeria. The clientele consists of average to low-income shoppers.

Accessibility: Centrally located on a busy but easily accessible road but the parking area is tiny. 4/5

In-store: There are two shopping floors but the groceries area downstairs is small with narrow, unkempt aisles, some of which are inhospitable due to gathered trash on the floor and mop-buckets in the way. The checkout area is cramped and prone to overcrowding 3/5

Products and Prices: There is a limited range of inexpensive products with a wide variety of bread: cassava, salted and family loaves 4/5

Customer Service: Security and uniformed staff stood or sat around the store talking and shouting to each other from across the aisles. At the checkout the cashier made no eye contact, gave no greeting and was having a conversation with a colleague throughout our transaction 2/5

TOTAL SCORE: 13/20

 

SAHAD STORES

Address: Plot 1512, Uke Street, Ahmadu Way, Area 11, Abuja

This Nigerian-owned supermarket is an enduring mainstay of the city and has branches in Kano and Jigawa. The superstore – which is usually busy and chaotic – sits on four floors packed with a large array of local and familiar products to satisfy the average to low-income clientele.

Accessibility: Good, central location but the parking area is disorderly leading to confusion and long queues despite the parking guards and a two-level car park. 3/5

In-store: The lower-level car park entrance is cluttered with loiters and hawkers, and inside the store is large and brash with little attention paid to style. There is no signage around and products spill out of shelves and line the floor, with the clothes and jewellery section lacking structure in terms of arrangement. Empty boxes are piled high in some corners and the sheer volume of products available is apparent with huge bags of rice and other grains kept in stairwells and along corridors. The checkout area is a high counter and the general atmosphere is one of chaos and carelessness 3/5

Products and Prices: A huge array of local products (some of doubtful quality) at cheap, affordable prices 4/5

Customer Service: No checking at the gates and inside the non-uniformed staff were inattentive, with one completing his phone call before attending to a customer. The checkout staff were aloof but efficient. However, the lack of imposed order led to confusion as to who should be served first and by whom 2/5

TOTAL SCORE: 12/20

SEKMART

Address: 1, Salome Close, Games Village, Abuja

This is a dedicated store for residents of Games Village but a mixed clientele of outsiders come for the convenience and availability of certain imported products not available elsewhere

Accessibility: Not central or well-known due to its hidden location within an estate thus the small parking area around the store is adequate for a less-busy estate supermarket. 3/5

In-store: Unattractive exterior with non-descript entrance and exit doors, but inside is spacious, brightly-lit and neat with open spaces and wide aisles grouped together in sections. The freezer and fruit division is within a room on one side of the mega-mart and there is also a separate wine section. The checkout is well spaced out to avoid queues 4/5

Products and Prices: Agood range of imported products, some of which cannot be purchased elsewhere in Abuja, with a variety of fresh produce, books and electronics slightly pricier than the average 3/5

Customer Service: Security guards were stationed around the store but groups of employees stood around talking. The service at the cashier was pleasant and polite and there was change 4/5

TOTAL SCORE: 14/20

SHOPRITE

Address: Grand Towers Mall, Plot 232 Murtala Mohamed Expressway, Apo, Abuja

Opened with fanfare in 2012, the South African supermarket chain is located in a newly-built mall in Apo housing KFC and other established stores, with two ATMs for added convenience. The mega-store draws a mixed clientele of higher-income shoppers, foreigners and tourists.

Accessibility: Located away from the city centre off a very busy single-lane road servicing various estates, the journey to Shoprite is stressful due to long queues, some of it caused by car-boot security checks at the gate. But the mall’s car park is large enough for 400 cars. 2/5

In-store: Steps lead up to the well-lit, neatly-stacked and well-labelled wide aisles with printed price tags on the shelves with a colourful fruit section, deli and bakery, all on-par with standard supermarket decor abroad. There are numerous checkouts at the front of the well-planned store. 5/5

Products and Prices: A wide selection of both local and imported products that is cheaper than you’ll expect from a large multi-national. 5/5

Customer Service: Uniformed employees dotted the store with security guards at the doors. Service at the tills was pleasant but aloof, with lots of small change available. 4/5

TOTAL SCORE: 16/20

SPAR

Address: Plot 264, Tafawa Balewa Way, Central District Area, Abuja

Located inside Ceddi Plaza – a plush six-storey shopping mall –, Spar benefits from contemporary facilities including lifts, an underground car park and ATMs located within the building, alongside several other businesses including restaurants and a cinema.  

Accessibility: Central location with its signage prominently displayed on the multi-storey Ceddi Plaza building. The mall car park is spacious and organised with taxi drivers readily available outside. 5/5

In-store: Inside is well-lit with clean aisles and shelves, although some products were not labelled. To the right and up a ramp is the freezer section, then the bakery section, but there is inadequate signage directing shoppers to the checkout and the exit as you have to walk around the store and to the back to reach it. There are five small checkout stations that are a squeeze to navigate. 3/5

Products and Prices: A good stock of groceries and electrical products and the bakery section has a large variety of baked goods, all at inexpensive prices. 4/5

Customer Service: Uniformed guards at the gate checked each car but cashiers at the tills were grumpy and unfriendly, my item wasn’t bagged and the cashier had no change and was at first reluctant to go and get it, before grudgingly collecting some from her colleague. 2/5

TOTAL SCORE: 14/20

And the winner is… Next Cash & Carry, which comes tops for the sheer variety of goods available, accessibility, parking space and good customer service.

Top 10 National Scandals of 2013

As we look back at the year in headlines, we discover that President Goodluck Jonathan played the supporting role in many of the most memorable national scandals in 2013. In much of the news, worthy of a Nollywood script in their outlandish horror and absurdity, the First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan amongst others stepped into the limelight (shone by Sahara Reporters; the bane of the political elite since 2006) to give Nigerians plenty to despair over, and the Commander in Chief was relegated to a bit player role on the comic-tragic film set that is Nigerian public life. Below is the Top 10 National Scandals that rocked Nigeria in 2013:

10. Apo Killings: When a community of Keke Napep drivers and petty traders was woken up early on the morning of September 20 by a disturbance in the uncompleted building near the Apo Legislative Quarters it called home, little did its members know it would be the end of eight of them. In what seemed like a botched operation by the Department of State Security to evict the ‘unsavoury’ tenants, the dead were controversially identified as Boko Haram militants before the usual parade of uncorroborated truth, cries for justice and institutional silence pervaded.

9. Ombatse Cult Killings: The gruesome murder and corpse burning of 74 policemen and SSS officers by Ombatse cult members in Nasarawa State on May 7th was one of the most shocking events of 2013. Dispatched to arrest the head of the cult over allegations of forced initiations and other brutalities, the security officers were captured and killed in a surprise jungle ambush. After nationwide outrage and protests by the victim’s widows, nobody was arrested and the Director General of the SSS forgave the cult their atrocities, and they continue to terrorise the state today.

8. Governor Chime’s Wife’s Imprisonment:  In one of the more curious cases of political intrigues this year, Mrs. Clara Chime, the estranged wife of Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime, wrote to the National Commission for Human Rights in November begging to be released from her house where she was allegedly held prisoner by her husband. Following several accusations by wife against husband and vice versa, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) and the media intervened and after a cringe-worthy press conference in which the Governor and his wife pretended all was well, Mrs Chime was finally released to her mother’s house.

7. Sanusi’s Searchlights: Central Bank’s Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi made the Strangest Statement Retraction of the Year when he stated that $49.8bn, part of the proceeds from crude oil exports by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), remained unaccounted for. Then he came out later to say that actually, it was only $10.8bn that was unaccounted for.

6. Anambra Elections: The farce that was the November elections in Anambra State, from which results were initially inconclusive, gave way to political mayhem, accusations of voter fraud and sabotage, nationwide protests and furious calls by a parade of acronyms: the PDP, APC, LP, PPA and CNPP for a cancellation of the elections and for Professor Attahiru Jega, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, to be fired for his organisation’s supposed ineptitude.  In the end, results from a supplementary election declared APGA’s candidate the winner, but the real winner in all this mayhem was: mayhem.

5. The Enduring Appeal of Dame Patience Jonathan: The image of the First Lady as a purveyor of bad grammar took a sinister turn this year. Not only was Dame Patience (who by the way, wants to be called Mama Peace now) resurrected by God ala Lazarus after dying for seven days, she was also involved in a David vs Goliath slinging match with Professor Wole Soyinka, but this time Goliath struck the deadliest blow when the Nobel Laureate called her an unrefined Sheppopotamus. The genesis of the insults was Soyinka’s assertions that the First Lady was the mastermind behind the Rivers State crisis, in which the failed impeachment of the Rivers State House of Assembly Speaker was accompanied by a video of Rivers’ politicians beating one another up.

4. Go and Die: When Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomole in November told a crying widow to “Go and die,” little did he know that the video of his heartless snob would first make him the most reviled governor on social media, then following a heart-felt apology and a photo-op of a doe-eyed Oshiomole sharing tea and sympathies with the now N2m richer widow, leave Nigerians marvelling at the Governor’s wise Public Relations Officer. God’s blessing to the widow-cum-national symbol of the downtrodden-cum-Government-employer came in disguise, and Oshiomole’s restoration too.

3. ASUU Strike: In the longest-running saga of the year, the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which began in July finally ended in December, with all students expected back at school in January 2014. The Government and the academics had gone back and forth in their negotiations throughout the duration, with ultimatums issued and ignored by both sides; students and parents growing restless and countless newspaper columns filled in discussions about the crisis. But finally it’s all over. Until the next time that is.

2. Oduah, BMWs and the Aviation Industry: When Sahara Reporters broke the story in August of the Aviation Minister Stella Oduah’s seemingly unnecessary purchase of two armoured BMW cars worth N255m, many Nigerians rolled their eyes and waited for nothing to happen. So after much media outrage and still the President’s three-man panel set up in October to probe the affair is yet to deliver its findings, the aviation industry simply continues to hide its blushes over repeated reports  of near-plane crashes and a plane stuck on the runway that closed the capital’s airport for a whole day. And Nigerians watch yet another politician break the law with impunity.

1. Presidential Letters: Like the Ghost of Politics Past, former President Olusegun Obasanjo made a shock re-emergence into the public consciousness with an 18-page public letter to his less-formidable successor imploring him to stop doing ‘bad’ and do ‘good’ instead. Never mind that the ‘bad’ on ground was mostly installed during his tenure, Obasanjo urged us to forget the messenger and heed the message. Some think his letter was borne out of a desire to leave a more pristine legacy in light of the glowing global superlatives bestowed upon the memory of the just-laid-to-rest Mandela. Whatever his reasoning, his daughter Iyabo Obasanjo was unmoved and allegedly penned her own acerbic letter accusing her father of various wrongs. Then President Jonathan finally responded with his own not-as-cutting letter. The season of letter writing may be over but the damage has been done, and our beleaguered president continues to preside over a house divided by unruly ministers with expensive tastes, Mama Peace's involvement in political chaos and the disapproval of his Godfather. We wish him a more prosperous 2014.

The Man in the Arena

The Sports Minister, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, on 2013 victories, Stephen Keshi, sports politics and public life

 Interview by Waziri Adio and Joshua Ocheja

 

Prologue by Simon Kolawole

Photography by Hakeem Salaam

 It's a goal! That's all your fans want to hear. Just score goals and make us happy. In that case, the Minister of Sports, Mallam Abdul-Ganiyu Bolaji Abdullahi, can be said to have delivered the goods. He is easily one of the most accomplished sports ministers in Nigeria's history. Under his watch, Nigeria has won the Africa Cup of Nations and the Under-17 World Cup, as well as qualified for the 2014 World Cup - all in one year. There is also the enviable collection of medals in African Athletics Championships, and the feat of multi-talented athlete Blessing Okagbare, who restored Nigeria's name to the medals table at the World Athletics Championship after the country's 13-year disappearing act. It's not just a goal - it's goals. But, in sport, it is not that simple. Who is responsible for the medals and trophies? The athletes? The coaches? The administrators? The fans? The media?

It is a bit complicated. The conventional wisdom in Nigeria is: "I won, we drew, you lost". If there is a medal or trophy on the table, the athletes and the coaches usually take the glory. Sometimes, it is attributed to sheer luck. When the trophy cabinet is empty, it is the administrators, stupid! They are the ones who prepared the team shabbily; they are the ones who delayed the payment of allowances; they are the ones who hired the wrong coaches; they are the ones who invited the wrong players to camp; and so on and so forth. When the team achieves, well, it may have nothing to do with those factors again. It is pure luck. We say the teams achieved in spite of "inept administration". This is the kind of situation public officers often find themselves. In sport, especially. The players and the coaches take all the praise ("I won"). Indifference is for all to share ("we drew"). Failure belongs to the administrators ("you lost").

Winning or losing, though, could be seen as a collective endeavour. There is a place for a goalkeeper, a defender, a midfielder and a striker on the field of football. And there are coaches barking orders from the pitch side. The administrators are usually not in the picture. And the assumption is that they do next to nothing, apart from the less demanding task of sitting in air-conditioned offices and flying around the world in search of estacodes and other varieties of comfort. For the greater part, then, they are on the defensive, always trying to get themselves out of a hole. Their toils are invisible. Their mistakes are televised. And you can see that this morning on the training pitch at the National Stadium, Abuja, where Mallam Abdullahi is playing some practice football with his staff. He is on the defensive - sorry, in the defence - and trying to prevent his side from conceding goals. He takes the corners, trying to create opportunities for others to score and shine. And, goodness, he takes and misses a penalty - and that is so glaring for everyone to see. Damn!

Of course, his staff didn't give him the kind of hard tackling you see in real life. He is a minister, after all, and you don't want to break his leg and make the wrong headlines the following day. But Abdullahi should have little complaint about hard tackles. He made his name as a merciless newspaper columnist, a critic who called a spade a spade, even when he could have mercifully said it looked like a spade. He is at the other side now, and the realities are not the same, even if related. Hear him on the convergence between journalism and public administration and his transition from one side to the other: "It was almost seamless because journalism and public service are organically connected. In journalism, you write and think and talk about what needs to be done. Sometimes you take the liberty of proffering solutions. In public sector, you have the additional responsibility of not just suggesting solutions but of actually making the solution happen. So I find it directly connected and I actually think journalism is a good training ground for public service."

During the interview, he keeps referring to the conflict between what we see and what we don't see. We can see the medals, but the methods are not obvious. We can hold the trophy, not the thinking. The 100 metres race takes a few seconds to complete, but the preparation couldn't have been in seconds. The football captain holds the trophy after a two-week tournament, but two weeks is nothing in the whole calendar. In this engaging interview, Abdullahi discusses the dynamics of being a man in the arena,  his reform agenda and records, his leadership approach, and related issues. Below find excerpts. 

2012 is regarded as the worst year in our recent sporting history. How did we get there and how do we ensure that we don’t go back there again?

 

The definitive sporting event for 2012 was the London Summer Olympics, and of course we came back with no medals at all. Looking back, it is not surprising that we got the kind of result that we got in London because up till that point we had a mind-set of just attending competitions rather than of developing a programme that would realistically deliver results. There was no policy guideline that said this is how we discover athletes, this is how we groom them, and this is how we prepare them for competitions. The basic building blocks for achieving result did not exist at all. The athletes were just relying on chance and their devices. There was also a high level of distrust between the National Sports Commission and the sports federations.

 The dismal outing forced us to look at the way we run sports in the country. We were lucky we have a President Goodluck Jonathan that understood the significance of sports and he immediately convened a presidential retreat. It was the first time ever that sports will be getting that level of attention at the highest level of political authority in Nigeria. The President sat through the 14 hours of the retreat and we came up with a report which became my responsibility to implement. One of the things we found was that we have to bring greater efficiency into the management of the various sports federations and the management of resources that go to them. Two, we have to fund sports well and more efficiently. And three, we have to strengthen grassroots sports development and create a broader pipeline to process athletes for higher performance. Since the retreat, we have been putting in place a robust framework for achieving all these.

 There is this widespread belief that our country was just unlucky in 2012 and just got lucky in 2013…

 Yes, you need a bit of luck in sports. But I don’t think it will be fair to ascribe everything to luck. What we do when we ascribe things to luck is that we close the space for responsibility and accountability. I can tell you strongly that it is not about luck. It is about leadership because the kind of bargaining that you do every day with all the various actors across a broad space goes a long way to determine the kind of result you get. The choices you make sitting in your office can determine what happens when athletes go into the field. The decision you took six months earlier, the relationship you were able to build six months earlier can determine what happens in those 10 seconds that you see an athlete run on the field. So to ascribe all these to mere luck is to do injustice to the knowledge that we can learn from how these things were done.

 The success in sports in 2013 started with AFCON and everybody was happy that Nigeria won after 19 years. But there were also stories. There was this particular story that the NFF officials bought their tickets because they didn’t expect that Nigeria could defeat Ivory Coast in the quarter-final match…

 

Everyone that knows anything about international sports competition knows that the issue of ticketing, just like accommodation, is handled by the tournament organisers. When you go to the Africa Cup of Nations, your ticket to even leave your country is bought by CAF. Your ticket to return to your country is bought by CAF. Once you cross the group stage, you all have your bookings ready. And that is why you see that when you lose a game today by the next day you are out of the country. The tickets for all the players on the Nigerian side and the Ivoirians too had already been booked before that game so that CAF would not continue to incur accommodation expenses after the team had lost out in the competition. If they have their way, the moment you lose they will march you from the stadium to the airport. So that is the way it is.

 This rumour is quite unfortunate because from day one I was in South Africa and I knew what was going on. You remember that the first three matches we played weren’t particularly very good so we were afraid of crashing out very early in the competition. I called the president of the football federation and I read the riot act to him. NFF officials in turn put pressure on the coaches. Now the question is how did they do it? So if individuals in the federation had done it in a way that suggested that ‘oh they don’t believe in the coaches,’ that is a different ball game entirely.

 

Many Nigerians believe that despite the fact that Keshi is one of our most successful coaches, whether indigenous or foreign, he has not been well treated. Why is it that you guys don’t have any respect for him? Is it because he is a Nigerian?

You see, I have a major credential when the issue of Nigerian or non-Nigerian coach comes up. And my credential is that one of the first actions that I took as minister was to stop the hiring of Tom Saintfiet as technical director for Nigeria. The reason I did it was that I wasn’t convinced that there was no Nigerian that could do that job. So the issue of not respecting Keshi because he is a Nigerian does not arise.

The issue of him not being paid is the latest and it’s quite unfortunate. Every labourer deserves his wages. Keshi deserves to be paid. I got to know of this issue on the pages of newspapers. And talking about respect, that does not show respect. But after I read it and relying on newspaper reports, I issued a query to the NFF asking them to explain why Keshi and the other national coaches were being owed. They said they are cash-strapped. Well, I think the NFF can do a lot better not only in fund generation, but also in fund management. If they had been more creative in the way they generate and manage funds, they probably would not be in the kind of financial situation that they are. But the truth is that they are in a financial mess and we have to deal with that. So when they replied that they had financial problems, the first thing was to find way to solve the issue of coaches’ salaries and I can tell you that I wrote to President Jonathan asking for a bailout.

Is it true that you wanted to hire Rijkaard while AFCON was going on?

There is no truth to that. Even a retarded fellow will tell you that even if you are going to hire a coach, you don’t do that in the middle of a competition. At least you wait for the competition to be over.

 What are your expectations for Nigeria at the World Cup and the next Olympics? And what are the things that have been put in pace to make sure that those expectations are met? 

I am confident that 2014 is going to be a great year for sports. I am confident that the Super Eagles can do very well at the World Cup if we are able to work very hard and focus on what we need to do between now and then. Other African countries have gotten to the quarter finals before, so I don’t think quarter finals should be enough for us. I think we should target semi-finals and I think it’s realistic. Of course it’s a lot of work and it’s not going to happen because we wish it. We have a good team, we have a good technical support for them, and we believe we can go far if we keep our eyes on the ball.

 

 The Commonwealth Games is also in 2014. We believe we can go far. We want to win it if possible. That’s our target. The athletes are already in camp and this is the first time we have had this stretch of preparations for almost a year before the tournament. These are part of the changes we have brought into the management of elite sports. We have already built an athletes’ hostel in the stadium and what that means is that athletes can camp within the stadium and train within the stadium. We don’t have to take them outside where they will be distracted. 

We are also building a high performance centre that will be for strength conditioning, sports physiology, sports medicine and all that. This has never happened in the whole of West Africa. I am confident that by the end of January 2014 this centre will take off. We have hired a high performance director for athletics. We are working with the Cubans to give us a coach in boxing and we have already signed an agreement. We are working with the Korean embassy to give us coaches for taekwondo and we have already signed the agreement. These are the support systems that were missing. I believe that the fact that we have all these critical inputs in place should have a bearing on our performances in competitions.

What will you consider your key achievements since you came to the Ministry of Sports? 

The obvious ones are that under my watch, we won the Africa Cup of Nation for 2013, we won the FIFA Under-17 World Cup and we qualified for the World Cup. Also under my watch, we are the only country ever in Africa to simultaneously hold the championship records for senior athletics, junior athletics and youth athletics. But for me what I will consider to be my biggest achievement is that under my watch we have been able to build a system that is pre-designed to deliver results: a system that will ensure that regardless of who is in charge, results can be achieved and things can be done the way they should be done.

The Commonwealth Games is in August next year. As I said before, the athletes that will take part in that competition are already in camp. This is the first time that will happen. We are also building a high performance system that will manage the science of preparing athletes for competitions.  For the first time we now have a national high performance director to develop a programme that can be implemented over a period of time that will start from discovering athletes to developing their talents and preparing them for podium success.

The science of sports today will tell you that for you to achieve podium success at global level you must have at least 10,000 hours of preparation. That is like two and half hours every day for 10 years. So what it means is that athletes have to be discovered very early, probably at the age of 9 or 10 and be put through a programme that deliberately looks at their nutrition, physiology, physiotherapy, conditioning and exposure. All these have to be put together in a programme. That is what makes the high performance system, which we have never had.

For example, what was the programme that we used that made Chioma Ajunwa win the gold in long jump at the Atlanta Olympics? There was none. I would love to see that programme and see how we can replicate it. But there was none. So until we are able to get to a level where we can say this is the programme that we used, this is the process that we have put in place and this is the template, then we have not got to where we ought to be. For me, I want to be remembered as the minister who put these basic frameworks in place and who initiated a system that can be built upon.

What did you do to straighten out the football federation and the local league?

When I became minister, there were about 25 court cases against the NFF. It was so bad that I heard that when we went to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, as the Nigerian contingent was arriving, another contingent was also arriving with a different objective, which was to ensure that the federation at that time failed. That was the atmosphere of sheer anarchy that I found as minister and it was clear to me that we were not going to get anywhere until we sorted that out. 

What I did was to set about rebuilding trust between the NSC and the NFF by making the federation realise that ‘yes you have had this relationship with the commission over the years but this is a new man in charge. I am not going to take your sides, but I am not going to be against you. I will deal with everyone fairly.’ I had to seek the assistance of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to make everyone realise that I was implementing a brief that goes as high as possible. We were able to clear all the court cases and we were able to improve relationships amongst the various organs that are vital to moving forward.

We have also done a lot to straighten out our local league. When I became minister, the Nigerian Premier League had become so bad that there was a big tussle over title sponsorship and league managers were asking clubs to pay the allowances of referees. And when you ask clubs to pay allowances of referees, of course the outcome is very clear. So the league was in such disrepute that anything could happen. Matches were going on for two hours until the preferred team won; people were playing matches in darkness; people were throwing balls into the net to claim a goal.

Now we have a limited liability company, headed by Hon. Nduka Irabor, in charge of our league. I can tell you that that is one achievement that I am most proud of and within one year, the same league that could not get a title sponsorship was able to sign a deal of N550 million title rights. That isn’t much, but it is better than nothing. The same league that could not pay its own referees got an investment of $34 million in broadcast rights. That is a major achievement.

Talking about money, what have you put in place to ensure sustainable funding for sports in the country?

We have been working with the office of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance and GTBank to come up with a framework for a funding system that is not tied to the vagaries of the annual budget. What we have proposed is a national high performance sports fund which will be used solely to manage high performance sports and of course the high performance sports in Nigeria are football, athletics, boxing, wrestling and taekwondo. The rest will now be funded by sporting activities fund that normally comes from the budget.

How do you get money into the high performance sports fund?

The fund will be made up of money that comes in for the elite sports, money from budget, money from corporate sponsorship, and money from lottery. We want a percentage of the money from lottery to be dedicated to elite sports. That is part of the negotiation that is on-going with the office of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy. She has been very supportive and keen. We have written to the President and he is happy about it. What is remaining is to tidy up the framework. And by the time we are through, the issue of we are late in preparing for a major competition because the budget has not been approved or because there is no budgetary allocation will not arise.

Being in the sports sector is seen as partaking in a contact sport. How have you been able to survive all the vicious tackles that go with the terrain?

This is a sector with probably 160 million experts and with all of them thinking the only person who has no clue about what needs to be done is the person who has the job. Also, it is a tough sector because you cannot achieve sustainable result without being reform-minded. And being a reformist means that you are preoccupied with bringing about change in the way things are done. This makes it even tougher.

To survive in a sector like this, you have to be clear about what you want to achieve at all times. The second is you have to lock your ego away because people will challenge you; they will tell you they know and you don’t; and they will tell you this is the way it is done and should be done. You will give a directive and people will do the complete opposite. They will agree with you while sitting with you but when they leave they will do something totally different. So you have to have the ability or develop the ability not to take any of these personal. Otherwise you find that you are consumed with fighting small battles here and there. I think keeping one's eye on the ball and focusing on only those things that matter, and not taking anything personal are the things that have helped me.

You have to have respect for people and their opinions. At the same time you don’t get taken in by people who call themselves experts. And you don’t hold on too strongly to your own opinions because if you do you will fail. You also need to learn how to listen. What I do most of the time is that I reduce my job to that of helping the federations to clarify their processes, methods, and objectives. I leave them to make their own decisions but I help them to clarify things and I also communicate to them very clearly and strongly what the national objective is. I never get to interfere in who gets employed as a football coach, or who gets to play in the national team. In fact, I never get to interfere in who gets contracts in the NSC.

There is this story that a coach nearly got you sacked at a time and an athlete saved you your job at another time. What is true and what is not?

Well, I don’t know where that came from. I think people were just trying to make sense of something that they didn’t understand and they came to their own conclusions. For me, I focus on those things that are within my control. What I do is that every single day that I wake up I focus on my job and try to do my best. Under my watch, we have achieved a lot in sports in this country. That is more than enough for me. But only one person hired me and only that one person can fire me, and that’s President Goodluck Jonathan.

You were in the Ministry of Youth Development before you came here. In terms of intensity and scope for change, how will you compare your experience in the two ministries?

I liked the Ministry of Youth a lot because there is a huge opportunity to do a lot of work in the youth sector. But unfortunately we have not, as a country, really clarified what we want to do with that ministry. When I was there we tried to give it an identity and a presence and I think within the one year that we spent in that ministry people began to notice that there is a ministry called the Ministry of Youth Development. We gave it a different orientation as a facilitating and advocacy ministry. We also tried to define ourselves as representatives of young people within government. We focused on that so much that young people began to believe they had a representation in government.

Sports is a different sector. It’s a pressure-cooker ministry. Everybody is interested, everybody is an expert, and there is no hiding place. So you have to be alert and politically sensible; you have to hone your manoeuvring skills; and you have to learn to bring people on board. I think the opportunity to learn leadership in sports is higher because every day people are playing games, literally speaking. When people are talking to you, you have to pay more attention to what they are not saying than what they are saying. I find the Ministry of Sports a lot more exciting and complex and challenging. And it’s the kind of challenges that I like to take on.

You were quoted once that you love solving problems or wrestling with challenges. Where did that mind-set come from and why is a problem-solving mind-set important for public work?

I believe the public sector should be a platform for solving public problems. If we don’t have a mind-set for solving problems, then we probably shouldn’t be here. But in trying to solve problems, we have to be clear what our own responsibilities are as leaders. Most of the time, you find that the leadership responsibility that we face at this level is merely to listen to other people. Sometimes however it’s about asking the right questions. Another time, it is about making people feel important.

You have spent almost equal time in journalism and public service. How have you managed the transition from journalism to public life? What important lessons have you learnt?

For me, it was almost seamless because journalism and public service are organically connected. In journalism, you write and think and talk about what needs to be done. Sometimes you take the liberty of proffering solutions. In public sector, you have the additional responsibility of not just suggesting solutions but of actually making the solution happen. So I find it directly connected and I actually think journalism is a good training ground for public service. Journalism experience allows you the kind of broad mindedness that is required to make impact in public service and journalism trains you to ask questions. Journalists are dreamers and idealists. Public service gives you a great opportunity to actualise those dreams and take responsibility for them. When there is an opportunity to translate that idealism into real change that is a huge privilege.

For people who might be thinking of this kind of transition, from whatever sector to public life, what are the rules of the road that you think can make them survive and make the difference?

The number one lesson is to come in believing you don’t know and here is an opportunity for you to learn. What I have learnt is that knowledge could also be an encumbrance. People who feel they know find it difficult to learn. The number two lesson is to learn political management. Some people say you can always walk away if things do not work out. Yes, you can. But that’s the easiest thing to do. How does walking away get the job done?