By Jacob Ajom

Sports in Nigeria has gone through many stages. From the colonial times when sport was basically a recreational pastime among the white masters, through the post-colonial era when sports became competitive, as athletes competed for glory to the present level that has seen sport metamorphose into money-spinning ventures. Sportsmen and women are no longer seen as dropouts or as dregs of the society. Rather, today’s athletes- the stars, walk tall in the society. They command fame, honour and wealth and their names are on the lips of millions of admirers; they command cult images.

To produce podium performances, athletes need to be developed from early ages, through regimented training to maturity. This can only be achieved through an articulated sports development policy, hinged on grassroots development.

Writing for the International Journal of Management and Applied Sciences, Bukari Mohammed of Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic submitted thus: “Sports performance and achievements have been the avenue through which great nations of the world exhibit their supremacy over others through sports development strategy. Effective sports development therefore requires variables like sports policy, sports personnel, funding, sports programme, facilities and sponsorship. The extent to which these variables are not met shall, no doubt, affect the effectiveness of any sports development.”

Mohammed goes further to define sports development as the “gradual increase, attainment and advancement of sports from the low level strata to a higher level with due cognizance and consideration of the indices that enhance the realization and actualization of sports development.”

Revival of Schools/Grassroots Sports:

Following the attainment of self rule, sports in Nigeria was hinged on the school system. The education sector formed the bedrock of grassroots sports development. Approval for the establishment of schools were based on the consideration that there was enough land for both academic and recreational facilities. Schools- from primary to tertiary- provided the basic tenets for a child’s holistic development where apart from academics, sports and other skills and craft were taught. That is not the case today as the level of physical education (PE) in Nigeria leaves much to be desired. The collapse of the school system which is a product of the commercialisation of that sector has negatively affected sports development. Most private schools do not have recreational facilities. Grassroots development is extinct.

The revival of grassroots sports should form a cardinal focal point for the in-coming government if Nigeria must return to winning ways.

Return National Sports Commission:

The National Sports Council was established in 1962, as a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Labour. In 1971, the body was renamed as the National Sports Commission by the Federal Military Government Decree 34 of 1971. Since then, the body running Nigerian sports has undergone numerous name changes. When it was returned as NSC in 2007, the President Mohammadu Buhari government again reverted to the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development in 2015. As it is, the NSC has been scrapped.

One time Super Eagles captain, Dr Segun Odegbami has said unless the NSC returned to play its traditional role as a catalyst in the sports development drive, the road to podium performances by Nigerian athletes would remain as distant as the moon. Odegbami once wrote in his weekly column in Saturday Vanguard, “The NSC is an agency of the federal government, a parastatal supervised by the Ministry of Sports, tested in the past with great success for over two decades, was made up of sports professionals and technocrats, with the responsibility to handle elite athletes’ development in the country. Elite athletes are those gifted boys and girls discovered and assembled from the grassroots.”

He emphasised, “In short, the National Sports Commission was established to train the best athletes, and manage national facilities, institutions and events that will develop the best athletes and prepare them for international competitions.”

At variance with the NSC which has sports development as it main preoccupation, the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has a political coating with vast responsibilities and protocols that often impede the smooth running of sports. The in-coming government must therefore return to the basics by reestablishing the NSC and separating the ministry of Sports from the NSC.

While the NSC will concentrate on the development of elite athletes, the ministry can continue with maintenance of facilities and organising grassroots competitions for the discovery and nurturing of future stars.

Training the coaches: The drop in sports in Nigeria has also been attributed to the poor quality of coaches available in the country. The in-coming government must therefore see to it that adequate funding is put in place for training and retraining the coaches.

Maintenance of facilities:

Lack of adequate maintenance for the few available facilities is another major drawback in Nigeria’s sports development efforts. Millions of Naira allocated or set aside for the maintenance of facilities go down the drain without accountability while the facilities are left in a state of decay. A typical example is the national stadium Lagos which the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare said requires over N21 billion to bring it back to life. If there had been a maintenance culture, things would not have got to that level. This has to be nibbed in the bud.

Strengthening the Nigeria Olympic Committee:

A very important arm of the sports fraternity that carries Nigeria’s flag in the international sports arena. The NOC forms the link between Nigerian and the rest of the global Olympic movement. It facilitates the participation of Nigeria in international competitions, fronts and protects Nigeria’s interest in international sports federations.

More than that, the Nigeria Olympic Committee secures scholarships and grants for the training of athletes and administrators. It is therefore important that the body gets a look-in from the incoming government in order to empower it for more effective coordination of Nigeria’s external sporting needs like keeping local sports federations abreast with latest anti-drug regimes, training courses for athletes, coaches and administrators. To mention but a few.

The failure of the NOC to establish a local Court of Arbitration for Sports is a big minus that the incoming governance can revisit and put pressure on the NOC board to set up one without delay.

Athletes Welfare:

Dr. Sadiq Abubakar Abdullahi, an adjunct professor at Florida International University and Miami Dade College and former Nigeria international tennis star said, “Athletes are the very heart and soul of sporting success.” To generate enough funds to take care of the needs of the athletes, he suggested the creation of an Athletes’ Welfare Fund (Athletes’ Endowment Fund). No athlete can perform without motivation. Incentives should be provided to attract private sector investments and participation in sports infrastructural development.

2022-2026 5. National Sports Industry Policy (NSIP)

The US-based Abdullahi further stated, “It is critical that the incoming government utilize the 2022-2026 National Sports Industry Policy (NSIP) as a framework to move sports to the next level by focusing on increased sports infrastructure, robust incentives, and private sector investment. Sports infrastructure and incentives will drive private sector investments.

National Sports Policy 2022

The National Sports Industry Policy is aimed at ensuring that sports is developed as a viable business sector capable of attracting local, national, and international investments, and delivering returns on investment. It will unlock the potentials of the sports industry and deliver its benefits to the public, private and social enterprise sectors, with a view to supporting the delivery of the short-, medium- and long-term strategies for driving the growth of the sports industry in Nigeria.

Within the Sports Policy are provisions for improved relationship among the three tiers of government, enhanced the capacity and functionality of National Sports Federations, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), National Institute for Sports (NIS), National Coaches Registry (NCR), National Court of Arbitration for Sports, the National High-Performance Center, the National Anti-Doping Agency, and the passage of the National Sports Commission Bill.

The major problem with the development of sports in Nigeria has been the non-implementation of sports policies, too many changes in structural architecture of sports management and the societal cankerworm which is high level corruption.