Newly appointed chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Shehu Dikko, has resumed duties at the commission headquarters domiciled at Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, with a promise to change the narrative of sports from mere competitions for medals to sports development to engender a beneficial sports economy.
He officially took over from the immediate-past minister of sports development, Senator John Owan-Enoh, who warmly received and handed over the affairs of Nigeria’s sports to him in a brief ceremony in Abuna on Wednesday.
The new NSC boss, at the brief handover ceremony, said Nigeria’s journey towards a sustainable sports economy has begun.
He promised to change the nation’s mindset from just competing to win medals at major competitions to focus on sports development.
“History has a way of coming full circle because in 2008, I was a consultant to the House of Representatives and was responsible for the drafting of the National Sports Commission Bill and about 16 years down the line I’m here with the assignment to implement the work I put together.
“The objective of Mr President is to harness the full potential of the Sports Economy in Nigeria, and we have to first change our mindset from the fixation of just competitions and winning medals and come back to fix our sports development.
“When we set the foundation right, the results and the winning of medals will naturally come and that should be the new mindset,” Dikko said.
The former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) second vice president added that Nigeria cannot continue to run in a circle, but needed a different approach to move forward.
“We cannot continue to run in a cycle. So, we need to have a different approach from day one because in my view and in the view of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, competition is what we call consumption.
“But we have to go back to production which is sports development, where we set the structure right, set the framework and put together good parameters to have a sustainable development which will naturally give us a solid economy.
“This is the reason why our administration will be focused on three pillars, including running sports as a national asset, that is entitled to special privileges, regulations and concessions.
“We have to also work on foundations and regulations so that the Industry can grow effectively like what happened in the communications industry some years back.
“The other pillar is investing in purposeful world-class infrastructures that will provide an enabling environment for growth. These infrastructures must be deliberate with maintenance culture.
“The thinking of Mr President is that, after having all these in place, we should be able to measure the country’s sports by its contribution to the nation’s GDP by at least three per cent in the next four to five years,” Dikko stated.
