The SWAN election has come and gone at the just concluded Triennial Congress held at the Garden City, with Honour Sirawoo returning unopposed as the SWAN president. Prior to his re-election, there were oppositions from certain quarters which a politician will describe as natural.
However, Sirawoo whom a school of thought felt should not run for a second-term got the massive support of the majority with 31 states and the FCT out of the 36 states coming out en masse to give him the needed support to return unopposed.
While critics feel otherwise about his re-election, we look through the 31 accomplishments which Honour Sirawoo made that led to his massive support from the 31 states that approved of his return.
- Sirawoo inherited two unregistered buses. A new and a refurbished bus but his administration went out of their way to register those two buses. Today these two buses are in very good conditions.
- On finance, the sum of N2, 400 was inherited in 2016 upon assumption of office in SWAN’s account but today a more running and functional account is in place.
- SWAN had a debt profile in both foreign and international level prior to his first coming, but today all those debts have been cleared.
- Officially, SWAN secured office accommodation consisting of Office of the President, Secretary-General, Admin Secretary, Treasurer and Open registry for the National Secretariat at the now MKO Abiola Stadium Abuja.
- The SWAN secretariat has also been duly furnished with state-of-the-arts office furnitures and standing fans to complement the Air Conditioners. It further boast of Power Generator, SHARP AR-M201 Photocopy machine, Computer set with WI-FI and UPS as well as a three in One Color Printer
- The SWAN statutes which was inherited in copies have been officially made a document to work with under his administration.
- SWAN have officially employed an Admin. Secretary, driver to complement the efforts of the secretariat. Till date all staff have been duly paid and enjoy regular salaries
- SWAN have maintained the provisions of the statute by holding NEC and Full Council Meetings backed with Lecture series, as required by the SWAN statute
- SWAN has been fully registered as corporate entity at the Corporate Affairs Commission, making it an independent body with a corporate image
- In conjunction with some Sports Federations, SWAN have organized Trainings,/Seminar/Workshop for members
- In line with the provisions with her affiliation with international affiliate, SWAN has opened a domiciliary account to ease transaction with AIPS. Today her account with AIPS is in credit.
- SWAN has also cleared a five year backlog of AIPS affiliation fee and also ensured the clearance of another 2,400 US dollar owed the AIPS; and serviced local debts
- SWAN has also paid her affiliation fees to AIPS upto the year 2022.
- The first ever Power Of Sports (POS) Award in Africa for Nigeria was secured under this administration.
- For the first time in our history, a member of SWAN was employed as a staff of AIPS making us participant in the activities of AIPS.
- For the first time in the history of SWAN, the President of AIPS came to Nigeria, where he joined the Governor of Rivers State (Power of Sports) to lay the foundation stone of Real Madrid Academy in Rivers State Port Harcourt
- Nigeria have also enjoyed full participation in the AIPS Young Reporters Programme under this administration
- For the first time, SWAN secured sponsorship from the state government to sponsor 10 Journalist cover the FIFA World Cup
- The process of securing the land donated to the Association for a permanent Secretariat by the FCT Administration under Alhaji Bello Mohammed is in progress.
- For the first time SWAN managed the accreditation of sports journalists during the National Sports Festival which took place in Abuja
- As part of support for social and welfare of members SWAN procured and distributed 30 trophies to 30 State Chapters towards popularizing the SWAN Cup across the country; with a view to enhancing unity among members. (Plans are on to extend the gesture to the remaining seven chapters).
- The process of securing the land donated to the Association for a permanent Secretariat by the FCT Administration under Alhaji Bello Mohammed is in progress.
- SWAN members now have an entrenched and fully computerized National ID card process put in place with a secured a comprehensive database of members for the Association across the country.
- We have set up a website for which ‘Annual Domain name Subscription; Hosting and Storage’ are being paid regularly. (The Admin. Secretary is under going training for the management of the website
- For the purpose of transparency and accountability a SWAN Registration Card Bank Account was opened to ensure accountability
- A review and amendment of the SWAN Statute has been done. The last time it was ever amended was eleven years ago.
- SWAN has also secured a partnership deal with Reno Hotel, a 3-star hotel in Katampe, Abuja, where SWAN card carrying members enjoy subsidies rate of #10,000 on all class of rooms instead of #35,000 and above
- In the bid to tap from the wealth of experience of our past leaders, we created an Advisory Council consisting of former Presidents, and Advisory Committee consisting of past chairmen of state chapters.
- Through the support of SWAN under this administration, Shooting Sports has finally been included as an event in the forthcoming National Youth Games in Ilorin. The Federation has also been given opportunity by its International body to air their live events on two TV stations in Nigeria. The deal runs into thousands of dollars.
- SWAN have also set up a ‘SWAN Foundation’ to enhance the generation of funds and goodwill for the welfare of members
- The dignity of the Association has been restored given different organizations the comfort to partner SWAN for business.
THE FUTURE OF SWAN
Sirawoo upon re-election has stated that his administration is aimed at carrying everyone along and also ensuring that more achievement is made in the next three years of his administration.
While Sirawoo inherited an account with the sum of N2, 400 in it. He has stated that he is looking forward to handing over a substantial amount to the tune of millions when handing over to his successor in 2022.
The autonomy which SWAN also enjoys now after her disaffiliation from NUJ was described by most of the delegates as a step which will guarantee brighter hope for SWAN in the future.
From the foregoing it is expected that Sirawoo will get the support of not only the National Executive Council (NEC), but will get the entire sport media to foster greater development and growth for the association. This indeed is a blessing for Sports Writers in Nigeria.
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