In a recent interview on Channels Television’s Sports Tonight program, the Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, outlined his strategic vision for the nation’s sports sector.
He emphasized the significance of the newly established National Sports Development Fund in addressing the persistent challenge of inadequate funding.
“The main issue of sports is about funding. The moment you can resolve the funding issue and get the sustainable flow of funding into sports, about 80 per cent of the problem is resolved,” he said.
“Part of what we are working on is to see how we can resolve the funding issue by creating the National Sports Development Fund. Through that fund, we can create a lot of process to generate funding.”
The head of the NSC clarified that adequate funding would enable the commission to invest in infrastructure, recruit staff and technical experts, and support athletes financially.
During the broadcast, he reassured Nigerians that no sport would be favored over others.
He emphasized the importance of leveraging more popular sports to elevate those that are less recognized, ensuring that all sports receive equal opportunities for growth and development.
“People should not have this fear about football, they say football is king of sports or whatever it is, but we should use football to be able to drive other sports and we should be able to give equal opportunities to other sports,” Dikko said.
“There is no need to isolate one sport and say we are putting all attention to that sport, but at the end of the day, we have to also work on our comparative advantage. Which are the sports that give us comparative advantage, either to get medals or to develop our sports economy we want to do?
“If you look at it, football in Nigeria for example that is a report that says 83% of Nigerians are interested in football, about 65% of Nigerians are participating in football.
“So, we should use the popularity and the appeal of football to drag other sports to come along with us so they can all develop within their comparative advantage and within their own capabilities,” he said.