WHEN I received an invitation to participate in a National Sports Summit from the Sports Minister and Chairman National Sports Commission, Alhaji Ibrahim Bio, held in Lagos August 30 – 31, I said to myself – here we go again. On January 26, 2009, the Sports Ministry/NSC assembled a Sports Stakeholders Conference in Abuja, which I attended, to develop national frame work and programme for a new National Sports Policy. Happily the new National Sports Policy has been promulgated since November 2009, and let no one never say that Nigeria have no Sports policy. The Director General NSC Dr. Patrick Ekeji enthusiastically distributed the policy at the summit.

We have always had since 1988, the problem was that successive government never bothered to implement it. The objective of the Lagos Sports Summit was quite different from that of Abuja last year, and I felt so impressed by the organization, quality of presentation and the general ambience that I devote today’s column to the opening remarks of the Sports Minister, who unlike others, spent every seconds and minutes at the two day Summit.

“I welcome you all to this all important national sports summit convened to elucidate my plans and guidelines for bringing about a positive change in sports administration in Nigeria. Sport is an important social activity which influences all levels of the society and nations. Sport is recognised by government of nations as a tool for national mobilization, cultural re-orientation, national integration, youth development and socialization as well as employment generation. As such, sport has a role to play in the search for solutions to the issues which beset our society. It is in this context that this summit is put together to develop a plan, to identify a remedy and appropriate solution to the problems of sports in Nigeria. In order to achieve sport transformation and rapid development that will have a positive impact on the society, a major and appropriate strategy is required. There are indeed vast resources in the world of sports which require efficient management. In spite of sports potentials as reflected in the abounding sport talents existing in the country and considering the amount of money spent on sport, Nigeria has not made the desired impact in international sports.

Unfortunately, the existing current structure of sports administration in Nigeria has neither encouraged private sector participation, nor, facilitated the optimum performance of our immensely talented athletes who are the most vital personnel in the chain of actors in sports.

A new well thought out structure that will embrace private sector participation is required; in place of the existing structure which is geared towards routine activities. The global economic environment has imposed change on all competitive organisations so much that organisations that are not proactive and flexible stand the risk of dying.

There is no doubt that our sports performances are dwindling considering the number of talents the country is blessed with and other resources put into sports. Much of the problems relate to ineffective and inefficient management of men and material in the industry. Sports development requires huge financial resources. The paucity of private sector funding of sports and the public sector inability to provide finances when required are largely responsible for our poor state of sports development.

The stakeholders have been invited to share with us their experiences on issues relating to sports so as to avail us the benefits of their vast knowledge in this sector.

The dimension sport has taken in contemporary times requires not only a deliberate and strategic planning but rather getting all fundamental issues right from the onset. For us to do it right, there must be a paradigm shift in thinking and practice of sports administration in Nigeria. It is obvious that government's sole sponsorship of sports is fast becoming unfashionable. Sports today is a colossal business; an area that must be explored to generate continual and substantial support for sports development through sustained, long-term partnerships.

The theme of this national sports summit is "Business of Sports: A Catalyst for Growth". Hosting of major Games is becoming increasingly interesting because the events present the host nation with the prospect of creating business opportunities while positively projecting the image of the country.

Sport is among the largest and fastest growing industries in the world. Records show that the sports business industry generated approximately US $213 billion in revenue in 2008 & 2009. That makes the sports industry twice the size of the automobile industry as contained in Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal. Other references abound.

Another example can be taken from the English Premier League that earned over 2 Billion Euro during the 2008/2009 season and also Germany's Bundesliga that earned 1.575 billion Euro; according to the Annual Review of Football Finance 2010 by financial consultants Deloitte.

Sustained success does not come by chance; rather it comes by careful planning, well thought out strategy and efficient management of resources and faithful execution of plans. For sport to run as a business in Nigeria as it is done in most countries of the world, there must be a planned strategy to ensure the financial and operational viability of all sporting activities in the country. There is also the need for new attitudes, higher competencies and commitment from top bottom for an effective change process to be implemented. Sport in a well developed form is an integral part of the total make up of the society. Sports embrace the democratic principle of dialogue and where religion and commerce had failed, sports remain the main unifying factor that propagates the essence of unity.

Nationalism is propagated through sport; and success in sport brings a certain amount of respectability, prestige, status, and national pride. Testimony of this is the fact that a country whose sports men and women perform reasonably well in international sport competitions is granted a huge media coverage. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Chioma Ajunwa's gold medal achievement in long jump enabled Nigeria's name to be written in gold and for the first time Nigeria's national anthem was sung and flag raised at the Olympics which no doubt placed Nigeria in the eyes of the international world as an emerging sports giants.

It has become imperative to convene this summit in order to address the challenges that have been the bane of our sports growth in Nigeria, in accordance with Vision 20 - 2020. Finally, ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you once again to the National Sports Summit and wish you successful deliberations.”

NFF ELECTIONs
The NFF election crisis is in court and as a law abiding citizen I reserve my comments till the law has given judgment.