Founding president of Nigeria baseball and Softball
Association, Major General Ishola Williams (rtd), has said it was imperative
that he gave way for another to have a go at running baseball and Softball in
the country because the sport needed new ideas and innovations.
Speaking in an interview in Lagos Gen. Williams said he
stepped down to allow a new leadership for the association so as to bring in
new ideas and direction.
He had no kind words for the National Sports Commission and
Sports Ministry. Stake-holders agree he is a man who has made his mark and
retired with his head held high.
“Over the years,
sponsors were not forth-coming. We tried as much as we could to manage things
with little resources available to us. You very well know that we got no
assistance from the Sports Ministry and National Sports Commission because they
don’t like my face. I am not the type that agrees to share resources for sports
development. I am not the man that agrees to deals. So they frustrated our
efforts to make the sport grow,” he said.
Just as he did in Nigeria, Gen. Williams, who had also
doubled as president of the African Baseball and Softball Association, said he
has equally given up that portfolio “I had to step down to let others take over and see what could be
done to lift baseball. It is my sincere hope that the new executive would
tackle the issue of sponsorship with vigor, organize more competitions
especially at under 12 and under 14 levels because therein lies a way forward,”
he stated Prior to starting baseball, he had started handball in Nigeria, then
quit after nurturing it to a credible body. The Nigerian female handball team
qualified and participated in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.
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