By Chinyere Okoroafor
Minister of Youth and Sports Development Mr. Sunday Dare has said that a $500million annual investment in sports infrastructure will deliver N2trillion revenue in the next five to 10 years.
Dare said this investment can help to drive the largest real estate and infrastructure development in the country.
He spoke as one of the experts during the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit (#NES26) pre-summit event held on September 17, 2020, with the theme “Recategorization of Sports as a Business Sector of the Economy: Partnership Imperatives”.
According to the organisers, the #NES26 pre-summit events will help to shape strategic partnerships to chart a path to recovery, build resilience for the economy, businesses and households “by delivering conversations that will put Nigeria in a strong position within the changing world order.”
Dare, who delivered the keynote address, said sports were categorised as recreation and has just been recategorised as a business.
He noted that sports has the economic capacity through production and services to grow faster in lower-income countries than higher-income countries and is a labour intensive growth industry.
According to the minister, the new outlook of the sports industry “unlocks conferment of priority status and enables the industry’s eligibility for incentives, development of metrics for impact measurement, consideration for special funding by the Central Bank of Nigeria, creation of jobs and tax rebate.”
Statistician-General of the Federation Dr. Yemi Kale agreed that sports are big business, adding that it is valued at an estimated $500billion globally.
Kale added: “In Nigeria, sporting activity accounts for 0.005 percent of Nigeria’s GDP directly, however, the indirect effect is much higher.
“Sports is still a small business in Nigeria but has the potential to be much bigger.
“We need to agree on what sporting activities should constitute and focus on data integrity, collaboration with relevant agencies and most importantly ensuring the steady funding for data computing as related to the sports industry.”
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Mr. Olumide Akpata said the recategorisation of sports as a business would help to reposition Nigeria and providing the necessary legal framework which will effectively result in a booming and productive sector.
He added that “dealing with the issues of the sports sector requires paying attention to the laws that underpin that sector and indeed other sectors.
“We must be sure that the Nigerian legal profession receives training in that regard considering the fact that it is a specialised area.
“We must ensure that there are lawyers interested in building capacity in the sports sector and the NUC (Nigerian Universities Commission), Nigerian Law School, and other areas are carried along.”
Akpata noted that the NBA Section on Business Law has a sports entertainment committee and that his administration would ensure capacity building and re-engineering to ensure that Sports Law becomes a key part of the profession.
Mrs. Arume Ighoroje-Tsekiri representing Mr. Tony Okpanachi Managing Director, Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) Plc canvassed the need to understand the dynamics and find ways to help banks channel funds to make the sports sector a productive one.
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She said DBN gives partial credit guarantees and works with different partners for value chain enhancement and job creation; adding that sports funding must be derisked for the growth of the industry.
For Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) President, Mr Habu Gumel represented by Mr. Francis Orbih, sports is a viable business and national federations need to work with others to take the game to the grassroots to drive mass participation.
Gumel reiterated the need for a proper governance structure that will attract the private sector, adding that Federations must be fit for purpose since sports has a huge potential for youth employment when properly administered.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mr. Chijioke Okoli, observed that sports is on the residual list in the constitution and is not mentioned in the legislative list. He reasoned that this points to the importance of its recategorisation from recreation to a business.
Head of the Sports thematic group of the Tourism, Hospitality, Entertainment, Creatives and Sports as a business (THECS) Policy Commission of the NESG, Mrs. Nkechi Obi, said Nigeria has the potential to earn huge revenue from the sports industry and that the industry has achieved a number of developmental milestones towards its re-categorization as a business.
Speaking in the same vein, Dr. Ikenna Nwosu, Facilitator of the THECS Policy Commission said that the day’s event would affect the African Union (AU) agenda on sports and that the Policy Commission would continue to follow up “to tie loose ends and ensure the transformation of Nigeria’s sports industry.”
The 26th Nigerian Economic Summit will be the highpoint of a ‘Big Conversation for Action’ driven by pre-Summit events. These virtual events will kickstart discussions on this year’s Summit Theme.
The theme of this year’s Summit is “Building Partnerships for Resilience” and it is scheduled to hold from October 26 – 27, 2020.
Discussions at NES #26 will be anchored on three pillars – Collaboration, Execution and Impact – and dimensioned across five sub-themes: Mapping the Future; New Trends, New Opportunities, New Horizons; Embracing Technology and Innovation; Building Resilience and Charting the Path to Recovery
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