Big Sports Dialogue 0.1 sounds the alarm, Nigeria must fix sports now

By Oluwatobiloba Zeal-Adepetu Kumoye and Maxwell Kumoye in Lagos 

Nigeria’s sports community gathered in Lagos on Monday and delivered one message with thunderous clarity, If Nigeria wants to compete with the world, it must get its sports right and get it right now.

At the Villa Dome in Ikoyi, the maiden Big Sports Dialogue 0.1 united the country’s top sports thinkers, policy makers, administrators, marketers, private sector leaders and media heavyweights. 

For hours, they dissected the rot, the mistakes, the missed chances and then set their sights on a bold rebuild.

It was not a ceremony. It was a wake-up call that was audible for even the deaf to hear.

“SPEAK TRUTH TO THE POWER AND LEARN WHAT WE HAVE LEARNT”

Organizing Committee Chairman Osaze Ebueku set the tone early.

“This dialogue became necessary to speak truth to power. Nigerian sports have strayed too far. Today begins the journey back.”

Convener Aron Akeredola echoed the same urgency, insisting the meeting wasn’t for finger-pointing but for charting a fresh, honest roadmap.

Their conclusions will be documented and submitted to the National Sports Commission (NSC), a step the sports community will now watch closely.

NEW COMMISSION, NEW RULES—DIKKO DEFENDS REFORMS

The Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Shehu Dikko delivered the strongest defence yet for the scrapping of the Sports Ministry and creation of the Commission, calling it a “courageous” decision that Nigeria needed.

“It’s no longer business as usual,” Dikko said.

“We insisted every Federation must include women. We created a proper reward system. We are cleaning up the sector and more is coming.”

For once, there were nods around the hall. The message landed and the reception sink.

WOMEN’S SPORTS, THE MEDALS COME FROM THEM, THE ATTENTION DOESN’T

Aisha Falode, Mitchelle Obi and Olisa Adibdor took aim at a painful truth, Nigerian women win the medals, but rarely get the spotlight.

“Women bring home the honours. They carry this country. Yet they remain an afterthought,” they argued.

They challenged the media to help rewrite the national sports narrative: “Respect the women who keep Nigeria relevant on the world stage.”

POLICY FAILURE, ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY, AND A SYSTEM CRIPPLED BY NEGLECT

Another panel, featuring Mallam Shehu Dikko, Philip Shuaibu, Amaju Pinnick and GTI’s Nelson Ineh, admitted what Nigerians already know, the older system lacked policy direction, structure, and integrity.

But with the Commission now in full swing, they insisted the ship is being turned around, slowly, steadily but deliberately.

NIS DG Philip Shuaibu didn’t hide his frustration.

The National Institute for Sports was a “shadow of itself.”

The Athlete Development Centre in Abuja was allowed to rot which is the iconic mark of wider decay across the country.

Now armed with a 10-year reform document and six new zonal offices which are yet to take off fully, he promised the rebuild had already begun.

“ANY FEDERATION PRESIDENT WHO CAN’T ATTRACT SPONSORSHIP SHOULD GO”

That was the hard punch from the third panel featuring Dr. Larry Izamoje, Itiako Ikpokpo, Rivers Sports Commissioner Chris Green and former Lagos governor Babatunde Fashola.

They were blunt, no more cosmetic leadership, no more abandoned projects and no more athlete neglect.

“Fix welfare, fix infrastructure, fix grassroots. And if a Federation President cannot bring in sponsors—REMOVE HIM.”

FROM BRONZE TO BILLIONS, PRIVATE SECTOR MUST STEP UP

The final panel hammered the money issue.

Sports marketer Mike Itemuagbor, NSC DG Honourable Bukola Olokpade and others insisted Nigerian sports can become a billion-naira industry, if the government makes it investment-friendly.

THEY DEMANDED

Tax holidays for corporate sponsors, rebates for long-term investments and clear policies that protect investor interests

“Sports is big business. Let Nigeria treat it like big business.”

THE VERDICT, NIGERIA KNOWS THE PROBLEMS, NOW IT MUST DELIVER SOLUTIONS

The Big Sports Dialogue did not mince words. Nigeria’s sports decline is real, embarrassing and avoidable. 

But so is the potential, Africa’s biggest talent pool, a massive youth population, and a global fan culture waiting to be tapped properly.

The message from Lagos was unmistakable, the time for talk is over. Nigeria must get its sports reform right, this time, for real.