LESSONS I HAVE LEARNT FROM DIKKO, NSC BOSS
By Clement Nwankpa Jr
I have had several informal sessions with new National Sports Commission (NSC) Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko. Why not? I know some people will say “tell us something else, we know you are Shehu’s man naa.”
They are right. It is no news that I have had a lot of informal periods with MD (Mallam Dikko) at home, office, in Kaduna, Abuja etc. In good and bad times, we have been together savouring the highs and lows of life. We have looked into each other’s faces in times of tears and cheers, drying tears together and similarly soaking up adulations in the glitzy moments.
There is a popular saying that “game recognizes game”. When you are someone like me who likes intellectual engagements and resourcefulness, you will always crave to be at a place where you will learn something at all times. A military friend of mine says he doesn’t ‘waste his bullets’. I don’t waste my time. If I must be in a place, it must be worth the while. I always crave to leave a meeting better than I entered. Hence, I choose friends carefully. When I see those ones with substance, I stick to them. They milk me, and I milk them. Don’t get it twisted, I am not a user, I like friends that I can always pick something from, and, of course, by the special grace of God, they can also pick something from my brain.
Dikko ticks all the boxes. He is my boss and, yes, a special friend. I know you are saying again, “Eheee naa…We know Dikko is your good friend…Give us another gist.” It is that other gist that I want to give you…Keep reading to the end. I will tell you something.
We are together at All Stars International Football Club, Abuja. His passion for the beautiful game is infectious. We call him Paul Scholes because of his similarities in playing pattern with the Manchester United legend. He likes those defense-splitting passes, turns and flicks in the middle of the park and the long-range canons.
Now you will agree with me that the nation has, for the first time, gotten a sports supremo who doesn’t just talk it, but does it. One who doesn’t just know the dimensions of a football pitch, but had ran the length and breadth of a pitch severally. Therefore, he is in a good position to identify with the pains of the athletes. When athletes’ appreciation is listed as a cardinal responsibility of the NSC, you have got the right man there.
While he is a fitness freak, one thing you take away watching him play or discuss football is that he is so passionate about football and sports in general. I had stated that I like hanging out with like-minds, people with whom I can always engage in robust discussions on mutually-interesting topics. Sports forms a large part of my daily discussions and staying with MD affords me the opportunity to satisfy my cravings.
Dikko is a solutions-oriented man. He is always on the internet doing researches on how to move forward. He doesn’t believe in impossibilities. In his mind, no matter how difficult a situation is, there must be a solution somewhere somehow. He surrounds himself with results-driven men, so when that problem pops up, he has the right global network to tap into. Just a call and then clicks will do.
MD is a real go-getter. Another reason why I treasure moments with him. I don’t think I have told him this, but sometimes, I visit and sit in his office just to watch him moving around, papers in his hand, telling Mohammed what documents to print out or rubbing minds with that brainbox lawyer friend of his. Is it the sessions with business gurus, legal luminaries, intellectuals, industry powerbrokers, political heavyweights, globally acclaimed sports administrators? Whoever enters that room must have something in his brain.
There is this other high-ranking sports administrator regularly in Dikko’s office who for personal reasons calls me “strong man of Imo politics.” I will choose to keep his identity secret, but he is reading now. Those are men who have made hanging out in Dikko’s office all these years very engaging and satisfying.
In those moments of gloom (everyone has them), I have learnt a lot from Dikko. As I pointed out, those moments are unavoidable in the journey of life. Hanging out with Dikko in his low moments have equipped me for the struggles ahead. He kept telling me that there will be light at the end of the tunnel.
When he should keep his head down, he never stopped believing in his abilities. His head was held high up. I would come to keep him company and help him forget his travails, but I would see a man that had put the disappointments behind and switched on to the next lofty pursuit. You would see him pick a call and, the next minute, he was off to a high-octane meeting. I saw a man suddenly operating at a level higher than where he had just been discouraged and shoved aside by intrigues and shenanigans. Some of us saw this (NSC appointment) coming much earlier.
Therefore, I learnt from Dikko never to give up. I don’t know the type of disappointments I will encounter tomorrow. Friends may abandon me; even family members may turn their backs on me; it may seem that the world is crashing on me, but I will not cave in. I will always take a cue from Dikko and be calm. He has given me a template on how to handle trying times. It is at such times that one’s substance is measured. Dikko is made of very stern stuff!
He is more than a boss. He is more than a friend. He is a brother. Talking about carrying loads, he has been a burden-bearer emotionally, physically and materially. He slotted in my name for one national recognition without informing me and we were together almost every day. Then people started calling to congratulate me. That experience stuck because I didn’t make the request, but he sensed I needed it and pushed for it on my behalf. May God give you a friend like Shehu Dikko! There is a reason why we have been together all these years. Like rice and beans, the relationship makes a lot of sense to me.
MOMENT I KNEW THAT DIKKO WILL CLICK
Now, I promised that if you read till the end, I will tell you something that will cheer you up as a Nigerian sporting faithful. This privileged information will gladden your heart on the prospect of sports under Dikko’s watch. We have had a lot of sordid moments in sports lately, climaxing in our zero medal showing at Paris 2024 Olympics. But I am here to give you a glimmer of hope, a gist that you wouldn’t read in any press statement.
A day after Dikko had been officially announced as NSC Chairman, we were in his office. Then these young men with very sharp brains came into the office. Dikko was having a meeting in his conference room, he breezed into the office and gave the young men some brief on what to search out for him. I will not tell you the exact topic but it pertains to the global practices that would turn Nigeria into great sporting nations like USA, Australia, China. That search provides a key to unlocking the nation’s sporting potentials. They all clicked away on laptops and smart phones. Documents and write-ups were forwarded to Dikko for his appraisal. He nodded and pointed out that he was going to compress them.
I have searched that topic and broadly studied it, as well, and can authoritatively tell you that Dikko has found the KEY to our sporting eldorado. What gladdens the heart more is the nature of the man at the helm of Nigerian sports. This is no longer like the blind coming to lead people who can even partially see. This one can see very well.
According to David Jurdan, “The world steps aside to let him pass who knows where he is going”. Dikko surely knows where he is going.
