The absence of strategic policies and careful planning required to develop championship-winning athletes has continued to haunt Nigeria, while money-conscious sports managers are cashing out in many ways, including hosting mega international sporting fiestas, CHRISTIAN OKPARA reports.
When Nigeria lost its bid for the 2030 Commonwealth Games hosting rights to India, some stakeholders heaved a sigh of relief because, according to them, hosting a multi-sports fiesta of that magnitude should not be the country’s focus for now.
They further argued that the country would be best served if its resources were channelled into developing sports in-country, especially at the grassroots level, rather than the craze to promote the same by all means possible.
Furthermore, these stakeholders maintain that Nigeria has hosted so many international championships with nothing to show for it.
For the record, in the not-too-distant past, Nigeria has hosted the African Games, co-hosted the Africa Cup of Nations, staged both the FIFA U-17 and FIFA U-20 World Cup finals, among other regional and continental events.
To these stakeholders, putting the resources used in hosting international championships into facilities development and grassroots sports development would help the country build athletes who can withstand the stiff contest posed by their counterparts from climes that dominate the big competitions.
In his seminal work, “Sports Development: Policy, Process and Practice,” Peter Bramham described sports development as encompassing a range of policies, processes, and practices aimed at promoting participation, performance, and inclusion in sports across various communities.
According to Bramham, sports development focuses on ways to enhance participation in sports, improve performance, and foster community engagement.
He enumerated four vital ingredients that help in developing sport, which include enacting a policy framework that creates an environment that encourages participation at all levels, from grassroots to elite sports; the processes, including planning, implementation, and evaluation of sports programmes, and practice.
He said: “These policies often address issues such as funding, facility development, and access to sports programmes for underrepresented groups.
“The processes involve collaboration among various stakeholders, including government agencies, sports organisations, and community groups, to ensure that programmes meet the needs of the population they serve.
“Effective sports development practices involve coaching, talent identification, and community engagement initiatives. Professionals in this field work to create opportunities for individuals to participate in sports, develop their skills, and achieve their personal bests,” he added.
Given the scenario above, stakeholders believe that Nigeria is so obsessed with participating and hosting international events that it has forgotten that athletes need to be discovered, nurtured and given wings to fly in the company of their peers from other climes as they vie for laurels.
A cursory look at the Nigerian situation reveals that sports have been on a free-fall because governments at different levels have not realised the many crucial roles that a well-developed sports sector can play in the country’s economy.
A former Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, who once advocated that Nigeria should stop participating in certain international championships to reset its sporting priorities, told The Guardian that sports have suffered serious neglect and lack of investment at the grassroots.
He said that investing in sports at schools and community levels, and ensuring that opportunities are created for young people to manifest their talent in sports development, “will ensure that as they grow, they mature into elite athletes.”
Dalung averred that the country has jettisoned or neglected secondary school games, university games and the military sports that contributed effectively to breeding young athletes for the country.
He said: “The neglect got to a point that even the National Sports Festival, which used to be the peak of assembly of our national athletes, was also abandoned for a very long time, until in 2018, when I, as a minister, revived it. So this neglect has contributed in no small way to affecting our elite athletes’ profile.”
The former minister said that corporate bodies and well-to-do individuals, who could have helped revive the country’s sports, have all left the sector due to the proliferation of shady deals.
He said: “Because of corruption in sports administration, corporate organisations which used to invest in grassroots sports development… some of them provided scholarships for these young talents to encourage them… got discouraged and withdrew from sports partnership because they kept investing their money without a commensurate return.”
Apart from the private sector’s apathy to Nigerian sport, Dalung said that since 1999, the Federal Government has neglected sports development because it still has not recognised that the sector can help in solving the country’s unemployment problem.
“The budgets for sports since 1999 have been so abysmal. Our yearly budget in sports is equivalent to just what some countries budget for one tournament. The lack of commitment to sports is glaring, especially from the lack of investment in infrastructure right from the grassroots to the sub-national and national levels. This has contributed to the decline in the elite athlete profile of Nigeria.”
Legal practitioner and sports analyst, Sabinus Ikewuaku, wants a system that would ensure that the country builds nurseries that produce quality athletes for every championship that the country participates in.
He said that promoting sports would be meaningful if the country fields quality competitors for such events, adding, “Nigeria should no longer see participation as an end in itself.”
But can the nation change the trajectory of Nigerian sports? Yes, if global best practices are strictly followed. The NSC leadership, those in the know say, should model appropriate practices and enforce national sports policies.
Secondly, power should be decentralised to the six zonal centres. Thirdly, national sports federations should demonstrate effective leadership and good governance, and the boards of federations should be assigned specific responsibilities and be held accountable.
Also, NSFs should seek funds to support programmes and activities at all levels, while the private sector should be incentivised to contribute to sports development, improvement and sustainability.
“Nigeria once had a system that produced great athletes in all sports. How we gradually abandoned the path that made us the first African country to win the Olympic football gold medal beats me.
“Nigeria has not won any boxing medal since the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Qualifying for the World Cup has become a difficult task for a country that has so many talented footballers. This is because we have administrators who don’t plan for these events. They wait for a few days for a qualifying event before assembling teams for the event,” Dalung alleged
He advised the Federal Government to find a way of bridging the gap between sports development and participation in championships, saying that the country would continue to fail on international stages if attention is not paid to grassroots development.
A former African tennis champion, Dr Sadiq Abdullahi, said that sports development is a continuum, which involves both the public and private sectors.
He said that the three tiers of government must contribute meaningfully to sports development, improvement and sustainability.
Said he: “The national government sets the tone and the direction. It does this through the National Sports Commission (NSC), which has been in operation for about 14 months now. One of the primary functions of the NSC is to regulate and supervise National Sports Federations (NSFs). Other functions include bidding and organising continental and international competitions. NSFs are guided by the constitutions/ bylaws of their respective International Federations (IF).
“A state government, through its local sports committee, working closely with state sports associations, promotes sports programmes and activities for sports development. The NSC sees its sports development as a national priority, and sees organising competitions at the national, continental and international levels as critical to stimulating the national sports economy.
“It is not that we are doing something wrong by hosting international sports meets, but rather it is our failure to coordinate the activities of all the stakeholders, especially at the national level, that is the problem. It has become a perennial problem. The NSC has tools to get it right, but it must adhere to the provisions of the NSC Act of 2023.”
Abdullahi said that hosting international championships does not build competitive athletes, adding, however, that it has its advantages and disadvantages.
“Some of the advantages include contributing to the local economy and the GDP, infrastructure and facilities development, projecting the country as a tourist attraction, creating jobs, and inspiring athletes to compete against the best, among others.
“Champions are made over time, and it takes about 10 years to develop one. In most countries, champions are discovered at the age of seven and at 10 years old, the National Sports Federation take note and monitors the player’s development.
“I was discovered at age 14 and invited to the National Junior Tennis Team in 1974. It is usually too late to groom and nurture a talented player at this age. This is where quality and highly competitive competition become critical. The role of the NSC is to support NSFs with funding and other logistics.
“For example, the NSC inaugurated the Elite Athletes Development and Podium Performance Board to assist athletes representing the country to reach the podium level. The board has made some progress but faces many challenges.”
He said that Nigeria must adopt global best practices judiciously to change its fortune in sports. To this end, he advised the National Sports Commission (NSC) leadership to model appropriate practices and enforce national sports policies to reset the sector, adding that power should be decentralised to the six zonal centres.
He said: “The National Sports Federations (NSFs) should demonstrate effective leadership and good governance, and federation boards should be assigned specific responsibilities and be held accountable.
“The NSFs should source funds to support programmes and activities at all levels.”
He also advised the NSC and NSFs leadership to incentivise the private sector to contribute to sports development, improvement and sustainability, while advocating for the establishment of a coaching cadre at all levels.
On the corporate sector’s apathy toward sports, Abdullahi said that sports administrators should conduct themselves in ways that elicit trust and confidence from the private sector. “The perception of corruption undermines the credibility of national sports federations. Until transparency, accountability, effective leadership and good governance are seen in sports management, we should not expect corporate Nigeria to be involved in sports.
“It is time for the NSC to balance organising competitions and focusing on assisting NSFs to focus on identifying, developing and nurturing elite athletes. The hybridisation approach is the recommended approach.”
