The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development (the Ministry) headed by Mr. Sunday Dare released the Draft 2020 National Sports Industry Policy aimed at restructuring the Sports industry in Nigeria and changing the perception of sports in Nigeria from a solely recreational activity to one that can drive economic development in the country. To achieve this aim of restructuring the sports industry, the Draft National Sports Industry Policy (NSIP) has been structured towards delivering solutions to four salient issues bedeviling the sports industry – Infrastructure, Incentives, Investment and Policy.
The NSIP notes that to drive the sports industry in Nigeria forward, issues relating to the construction, development, and maintenance of sports infrastructure through Public-Private Partnerships; provision of incentives to private sector investors and the production of an implementable policy on sports must be attended to in a robust manner. The document also highlights the socio-political benefit of sports as a tool of national integration and how sport can be utilized as a tool for national integration. Further, the document highlights the health importance of a viable sports industry and proposes a structure that would be more inclusive, particularly, targeting groups that hitherto felt marginalised from sporting activities like girls, persons living with a disability.
The document is divided into 8 chapters and the Ministry is calling on the public to review and make comments on the draft policy via the affixed form. (the link to the form will be embedded here). The deadline for public comments on the draft policy is Friday, 14th August 2020.
