By Monday Nas Ozoya, MCIMSPA, MEASM, MIEEE, FIFA Guardians Safeguarding Platinum, Director, UK Coordinator and General Grassroots Councillor, African Coaches Connect (ACC)
Nigeria regularly celebrates athletes when they succeed but rarely examines the workforce that made their participation possible.
Behind every functioning sports system are coaches, referees, safeguarding officers, administrators, event officials, grounds personnel and community volunteers.
These people should not be treated as free labour, occasional helpers, or customers for another certificate.
Countries with more developed sports systems provide useful lessons.
In the United Kingdom, coach development includes safeguarding, minimum deployment standards and continuing professional development. UK Coaching’s safeguarding programme carries recognised CPD points, while refresher training is recommended at regular intervals.
Sport England advises organisations to consider insurance and reimburse reasonable expenses because volunteering should not cost someone money.
Australia operates a central learning system that offers education to coaches, officials, administrators, volunteers, and paid staff. Its free Game Plan platform also helps clubs assess governance, identify weaknesses, store institutional information, and improve volunteer management.
Across Europe, current policy discussions connect volunteering with good governance, inclusion, skills, sustainability, and the survival of grassroots sport.
The lesson is clear:
Successful sports systems do not simply recruit coaches and volunteers. They train, protect, support, recognise and retain them.
Nigeria needs a National Coaching and Volunteering Framework
A coaching certificate should provide evidence of competence, not simply evidence that somebody paid for and attended a course.
However, professionalisation must not become another barrier controlled by personal relationships.
Requiring every applicant to obtain an institutional nomination could exclude capable community coaches who work outside recognised organisations. Nigeria therefore needs two transparent entry routes:
1. Nomination through an accredited club, school, federation, or state association.
2. Open application supported by verified coaching experience, references, and competency assessment.
Access should be based on evidence, not connections.
The coaching pathway should include:
1. Verified practice
Applicants should demonstrate active coaching experience through session records, portfolios, mentoring reports or verified placements.
2. Appropriate entry and progression
Coaches should enter the pathway at a level consistent with their knowledge and experience:
Foundation → Grassroots → Development → Performance → Elite
Progression should require practical assessment, not attendance alone.
3. Minimum deployment standards
Before working independently, coaches should complete safeguarding, first aid, health and safety, ethics, and role-specific training.
4. Renewable licences
Qualifications should remain valid for a defined period. Renewal should require continuing professional development, recent practice and compliance with safeguarding and professional conduct standards.
5. Accessible education
Training must be affordable and available through regional centres, mobile programmes, and digital learning. A national framework that exists only in Abuja, Lagos or major cities is not genuinely national.
Volunteers also need a proper system.
Volunteers should not replace jobs that require paid professionals. Organisations also should not expect people to fund sports delivery out of pocket.
Nigeria needs a National Sports Volunteer Charter covering:
• clearly defined roles and written expectations.
• safe recruitment and safeguarding checks.
• induction, supervision, and mentoring.
• appropriate insurance.
• transport, food and essential expense reimbursement.
• recognised training and micro-credentials;
• protection from harassment, exploitation, and unreasonable workloads.
• formal recognition of service.
• pathways into paid employment and professional qualifications.
A national volunteer register could help connect trained people to clubs, schools, competitions, and community programmes. However, it must protect personal information and must not become another administrative gatekeeping tool.
The real test of professionalisation
Nigeria should measure more than the number of certificates issued.
The National Sports Commission should publish:
• the number of active and licensed coaches.
• geographical and gender distribution.
• safeguarding and first aid compliance.
• licence renewal and CPD completion.
• volunteer recruitment and retention.
• expenses and welfare support provided.
• progression from volunteering into employment.
• participant satisfaction and safety outcomes.
If a training programme produces certificates but does not improve coaching practice, participant safety, or career progression, it has not developed the workforce.
It has only processed applicants.
Coaches develop athletes. Volunteers sustain clubs, leagues, and competitions. Supporting them is not an administrative expense. It is an investment in national sporting capacity.
The difficult question is this:
Will Nigeria keep selling qualifications and relying on unpaid sacrifice, or will it build a sports workforce that is trained, protected, supported, and given a credible future?
