By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Nigeria Economic Summit Group, (NESG), has commended the Federal government for reclassifying sports as business to birth the vision of the National Sports Industry Policy.
According to NESG, the policy is aimed at ensuring that sports plays a prominent role in the Nigerian economy while also serving as a platform to achieve social and community development.
The Federal Executive Council in November, this year approved the new National Sports Industry Policy (NSIP). The approval is the culmination of years of positive engagement between the private sector, led by the NESG and the public sector, led by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, to ensure the transformation of sports from recreation to business.
It will be recalled that the journey to developing the National Sports Industry Policy began at the 23rd Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#23), where the NESG showcased sports as a business at a breakout session. A 2nd Breakout Session followed this at NES#24 in 2018.
In 2019, at the 25th NES, the NESG and the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development sought to institutionalise Sports as a Private Sector led Industry in line with global best practices and to develop vibrant youth-based sectors to drive the Nigerian economy.
This culminated in several technical sessions that, for the first time ever, brought together eleven key Ministries (Education, Information & Culture, Women’s Affairs, Justice, Works, Health, Industry, Trade &Investment, Finance, Budget & National Planning, Youth & Sports Development, Science and Technology as well as Communication and Digital Economy) to brainstorm in Sector-specific Breakout Sessions, and harmonise cross-cutting, cross-sectoral issues with significant impact on the development of a reformed and repositioned Sport Industry in the country.
Furthermore, the Inter-Ministerial Technical Sessions, jointly hosted by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and the NESG, sought to develop a pathway for constant dialogue and engagement between the private and public sectors to chart a sustainable course for unlocking the potential of the Sports Industry and enabling the development of the whole gamut of the value chain of Sports.
The result of these sessions led to the signing of the first-ever Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the history of Nigeria on Sports Industry development by the NESG and the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development on sports as a business on the 17th of December 2019 at the NESG Secretariat, Ikoyi Lagos.
Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, in furtherance of the Ministry’s quest to ensure the industrialisation of the Nigeria Sports sector and in conjunction with the NESG, inaugurated the Sports Industry Working Group (SIWG) and its Steering Committee on Thursday, 20th February, 2020 in Abuja.
The SIWG had the mandate to address cross-cutting, cross-sectoral cooperation issues in the sports sector and midwife the repositioning of sports through a robust National Sports Industry Policy, focused legislation to drive the implementation of the policy, and targeted and constant initiatives, incentives, investments and interventions to support the implementation of a national policy to deliver on the potential and growth of sports as an economic contributor.
The Working Group, which consists of the NESG, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and critical sector stakeholders, on the 28th of July, 2020 presented the National Sports Industry Policy (NSIP) draft document to the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare.
With the approval of the National Sports Industry Policy (NSIP), the thrust areas to note include Federations and Athletes’ development, Education, Health, Capacity Development and Training, Inclusivity and Social Development in the Community, Provision of Facilities and Infrastructure, Economic Development, Legislative Environment and International Relations, Funding, Finance and Investment and Sports and the Digital Economy.
Recently, the Federal Government reclassified sports as a business and not mere recreation to birth the vision of the National Sports Industry Policy in ensuring that sport plays a prominent role as an instrument of national unity, cohesion, promoting health and fitness through mass participation and contributing to economic development and global recognition. In response to this, Sport Nigeria LTD/GTE was created by the private sector in 2021 as an initiative to aggregate, facilitate and enable the requisite private and social enterprise sectors investments into the sports industry and aid the achievement of the objective of a vibrant, sustainable sports industry across the entire sports value chain, according to the outline of the sports industry policy.
Sport Nigeria LTD/GTE, in collaboration with the NESG, hosted a dinner session at the 28th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#28) on the 14th of November, 2022, with the theme “Investment meets Opportunities: Economic Progress through the Sports Industry” where the organised private sector, investors and government, particularly those at the sub-national level were briefed on how sports can be driven to achieve a contribution of 2% to the GDP of Nigeria and 2% of direct employment in the country by 2030 through an annual revenue target of 2 trillion naira and contribution of 3-6 million direct and indirect jobs over a 10-year period.
