Daniel Explains why he visited EFCC
Gateway Games 2006 and the Import Waivers Issue
Ogun State, during my tenure as Governor, won the Right to host the National Sports Festival christened “Gateway Games”. The games held from 6th April to 16th April, 2006. The Ogun State contingent came 3rd overall and won the largest number of medals, including Gold medal in football. This remains the best performance ever recorded by our State in the history of the games.
Sports professionals nationwide agreed that Gateway Games 2006 was probably one of the best organised in history. In the course of our preparation, we built, from the scratch, the Gateway International Stadium and Games Village in Ijebu Ode. The MKO Abiola Stadium Abeokuta was upgraded to FIFA standard. With such standard Sports facilities, we were in a vantage position to host the world in Ogun State State when the facilities in Ijebu Ode was selected by FIFA as one of the venues for the Junior World Cup. Spain and USA played in the Ijebu-Ode. This is to refresh our memories, because human memories can be short.
Funding of the games was a major challenge as our administration decided, ab initio, that we couldn’t afford to use scarce state’s resources to fund the games which was a very expensive venture. We therefore created The Gateway Games Commission under the executive control of Dr Yomi Majekodunmi who later became my Chief of Staff because of what I considered to be his impressive performance during the Games. Together with Gateway Holdings Ltd, a wholly owned investment company by Ogun State Government, under the executive control of its pioneer Managing Director/Chief Executive, Mr Gboyega Isiaka. The two bodies were charged to look for ingenious ways to raise funds for the Games.
One the means they came up with was the usage of Customs waivers to import vehicles for the use of the Games and also Steel for the Construction of the Games Village. We duly applied to the Federal Government and was granted the waiver, indirectly though, through two companies (not nominated by us but recommended to us on the strength that they were not only reputable companies but that they had been used successfully by the Federal Government for the Games Festival held previously in Abuja).
The vehicles were duly provided by Globe Motors to our satisfaction.
However, the steel importation, as I recollect, gave us some challenges as the Steel did not arrive in time for the construction of the Games Village. The waiver was approved, to the best of my recollection, due to the usual bureaucracy in December 2005, less than four months to the commencement of the Games in April 2006. As we had no money to fund the Games, as I earlier indicated, the whole logistics of importation and funding was arranged by the duo of Gateway Games Commission and Gateway Holdings Limited and some 3rd party companies all funded by a Bank. I was informed while in Government that when the steel finally arrived, there were issues of demurrage, seizures, etc which rendered invalid the financial projections and timing for the Games as the steel finally arrived after the end of the Games. The Games Village under construction was not ready and we had to make alternative arrangements to house the over 10,000 participants in the Games, the largest contingent in the Game’s history.
Our concern thereafter was how to ensure that the nightmare was managed in such a way that the State was not left with any debt as a result of this development. I feel proud that on the final date of the games an audited
report of the Game’s finances was publicly rendered during the closing ceremonies in the presence of the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, and the Gateway Games Commission announced a modest profit of about N10m. This was on the 16th April 2006. With that closure we all felt elated that the Best Organised National Sports Festival was not only concluded without any untoward happening, but that such a game could be successfully done without directly relying on the State’s lean purse and, more importantly proving the point, that Sports could be a profitable venture in Nigeria if well managed. This, we believe, has become a landmark in Sports administration,
and we feel elated that since Gateway Games 2006, all other States hosting have been making it a reference point in planning and execution.
However, since the Games ended and despite the audited report publicly rendered, the Games have been the subject of continuos probes and investigations as are many of our other efforts in States administration, such that seven years later I was invited to provide some clarifications yesterday by the EFCC. I honoured the invitation and provided answers to the best of my recollection as all the details of all that transpired are in the custody of the current State government. I was not aware of any fraudulent dealings whatsoever either in these transactions or any other transaction during the eight years tenure of our administration. This short summary represents my initial comments to whatever insinuations that the public might have been fed with about my visit to the EFCC’s office yesterday.
Otunba Engr. Gbenga Daniel, FNSE., FNAEng.,
Governor, Ogun State. 2003-2011.
