Rugby should become a tournament for secondary schools – Mbagwu

Kelechukwu Mbagwu, Group Managing Director/CEO CMB Building, Maintenance & Investment Company Limited. The newly elected President of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation, NRFF, in an interview with Anthony Nlebem, BusinessDay Sports editor, highlighted his objectives and goals to deepen Rugby in Nigeria. Excepts:

What moves are you making to reunite with aggrieved members of the federation?

They are all great people who have passion for the sport. I’m reaching out to them to join the ship for us to realise the dream of our passion for the game.

We will work closely with them to take the sport to higher level.

What are your plans to reform rugby in Nigeria?

  We have an eight point agenda in our manifesto. We will be working tactically on the critical things we have noticed that is wrong in rugby.

Part of our plans is also to be pragmatic and deal with things that are critical with rugby to ensure they are achievable.

There are also plans to change the Governance and Administration of rugby.

We will engage competent and seasoned administrators with deep knowledge of organisation who are not rugby players but will deliver.

We want to reform the structure and good corporate governance, so that rugby spread across different states in Nigeria. We want to introduce the game to at least four schools in every state thereby grooming talents for the national team and improving Nigeria ranking.

Some years ago, rugby in Nigeria, was played by one club; Lagos Rugby Club. Now, you find a rugby club in Borno and Adamawa states. However, without the government, this will not be possible. I will work closely with the government to deepen the popularity of rugby in the country.

Part of our plans also will be to revive the School Boy Rugby games to discover young talents in the game and make them a better player. We will also develop more comprehensive programmes that will keep these kids in the game.  We will target certain areas; maybe three or four states as pilot and have intense coaching.

My goal is to have Junior Secondary school students; both male and female to learn how to play rugby, so that by the time they get to Senior secondary school, they would have mastered the game and be playing for their school.

We should have a Nigerian schools tournament at age 15 and 17 respectively and we should take them abroad to represent the country. That will help spread the knowledge of the game to other states.

We will also restore Female Rugby because of their potentials. We know that whatever women do, they do it better. They are naturally talented. We’re going to encourage female Rugby to flourish.

Are you moving the CMB league to attract more sponsors?

Well, it was never supposed to be only CMB league, I was one of the sponsors and I expect other corporate organisations to come on board.

What are your plans to get more certified Nigerian coaches?

I intend to do that by making the maximum number of candidates available or every training course to get our coaches certified.

We will look for the best coaches available be them Nigerian or foreign.

In the past few years, we have not been putting people forward for trainings, I intend bring that back.

Going forward, every year, the maximum number of candidates allowed from Nigeria would be presented. In that way, we increase tangibly the number of certified coaches.

Any plans to take Rugby to other parts of the country?

I have a very broad strategy, when we take control fully after our first board meeting and sub committees are appointed, we would look into it. My general plan for now is to work with the government.

The government has their structures in place and if I work with the government and build on those structures, we are half way there.

How do you intend to get more sponsors?

With good corporate administration and transparency within the organisation, we will be able to attract sponsors.

Sponsors want to see what you already have and how you have managed the recourses. They need to see what you are doing right and that will attract them or repel them as the case may be.

I believe with our strategic plans and with solid and transparent board, we will get more sponsors.

Getting Rugby back in the National Sports Festival

We will do that by getting every state to sponsor a rugby team. We will make available to all the sports directors the entire rugby playing fraternity in the country. If you can attract rugby players to your state to come and play for you, reach out to them.

I will also encourage the rugby players and were necessary bring back our players playing in the diaspora to play in the National Sports Festival.

Suspension of the league

I have no idea why the league was suspended, and I believe the election has nothing to do with the league.

Lack of funding was not why the league was put on hold. Now that the elections are over, I expect that the league will kickoff in earnest and a winner will emerge. I can’t tell how soon the league will kickoff, but I have already reached out to Tunde Akere, a rugby enthusiast to take over the Friends of Rugby and finish the rest of the season.

How do you see Nigeria rugby in the next two years?

I see consolidation and a solid foundation been built. I also see an administrative structure and good corporate governance been put in place.