By Monday Nas Ozoya, MCIMSPA, MEASM, MIEEE, FIFA Guardians Safeguarding Platinum
The Federal Executive Council approved the National Sports Industry Policy on 2 November 2022. It was presented as a four-year strategy to reposition sport as an economic sector rather than an activity sustained mainly by government expenditure.
Its ambitions were significant. They included tax incentives, land concessions, single-digit loans for sports investors, innovative financing for facilities, an Athletes Welfare Fund and full implementation of a Sports Code of Governance.
As the 2022β2026 policy period approaches its end, Nigeria needs more than another announcement. It needs a public implementation report.
The policy should be assessed against three fundamental tests:
1οΈβ£ SUSTAINABILITY: DID THE POLICY CREATE A FUNCTIONING SPORTS ECONOMY?
The policy recognised sport as an investable industry and proposed incentives intended to attract private capital.
The relevant questions are now measurable:
β’ How many investors accessed the incentives?
β’ How much private capital entered the sector?
β’ How many sports enterprises received single-digit financing?
β’ How much land was allocated for verified sports projects?
β’ Which facilities were built or rehabilitated through public-private partnerships?
β’ How many sustainable jobs and businesses were created?
A policy cannot be judged by the attractiveness of its incentives. It must be judged by their documented use and measurable results.
If the public cannot see the investment, projects and outcomes, sustainability remains an ambition rather than an achievement.
2οΈβ£ SAFEGUARDING: HAS POLICY BECOME PROTECTION?
Nigeria recorded an important step in June 2026 when the Nigeria Olympic Committee launched the Nigeria Safeguarding in Sports Policy.
The framework addresses abuse, harassment, exploitation, neglect, and discrimination. It also recognises the risks facing children, women, and persons with disabilities.
At the launch, four federations formally adopted the policy: badminton, weightlifting, netball and teqball. Other national federations were directed to domesticate it, appoint safeguarding officers and educate their stakeholders.
That is progress, but adoption is only the beginning.
The next questions are:
β’ How many federations have now adopted the policy?
β’ How many have trained safeguarding officers?
β’ Are affiliated clubs, academies and competitions being audited?
β’ Can children and athletes report concerns confidentially?
β’ Are cases investigated independently and consistently?
β’ Are sanctions recognised across different sports and states?
A safeguarding document does not protect anyone on its own.
Protection begins when standards become mandatory, reporting becomes safe, and leadership becomes accountable for failures.
Sports involving large numbers of children, particularly football, must demonstrate implementation at federation, state, league, club, and academy levels.
3οΈβ£ ATHLETE AND COACH WELFARE: DID IMPROVED REWARDS CREATE A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE?
The enhanced welfare and medal-reward package provided to Team Nigeria at the 2026 Commonwealth Games was a positive development. Athletes received improved allowances, travel support, and performance rewards, while coaches were also included in the incentive structure.
Team Nigeria subsequently finished seventh overall and emerged as Africaβs highest-ranked nation, winning 24 medals.
That achievement deserves recognition.
However, a competition bonus is not the same as a welfare system.
The Athletes Welfare Fund was described as having been established in 2022, while the Renewed Hope programme later committed to establishing and seed-funding such a fund. The public therefore needs clarity on its current legal status, governance, financing, and beneficiaries.
Nigeria should publish:
β’ the fundβs legal and governance structure
β’ annual income and expenditure
β’ eligibility and application criteria
β’ the identities of independent trustees
β’ the number and categories of beneficiaries
β’ support provided for education, health, and career transition
β’ audited accounts and annual impact reports
Coaches also need more than recognition after medals are won. They require regular education, professional registration, safeguarding training, licence renewal, employment protection, and transparent recruitment.
A bonus rewards a result. A welfare and development system protects a career.
THE REAL POLICY TEST
Across sustainability, safeguarding and welfare, the recurring challenge is not a shortage of ideas. It is the absence of sufficiently accessible implementation evidence.
Every major policy commitment should have:
1. A defined budget
2. A responsible institution
3. A delivery timetable
4. Measurable outcomes
5. An independent evaluation
6. A public annual report
The end of the 2022β2026 cycle should trigger an independent national review, not an automatic replacement with another document.
Nigeria should publish what was completed, what remains unfinished, how much was spent, who benefited and what corrective action will follow.
A policy is not successful because it was approved. It is successful when Nigerians can identify what it built, whom it protected and what measurable value it created.
Which area has progressed furthest, and which still exists mainly on paper: sports investment, safeguarding or athlete and coach welfare?
