By Monday Nas Ozoya, MCIMSPA, MEASM, MIEEE, FIFA Guardians Safeguarding Platinum, Director, UK Coordinator and General Grassroots Councillor, African Coaches Connect (ACC)
Nigeria does not lack sporting talent. It lacks a system capable of identifying, developing, protecting and retaining that talent.
When a sector operates without effective governance, structure, reliable data, transparency and accountability, strategy becomes uncertain. Responsibilities overlap, resources are difficult to trace, and failure becomes easy to excuse.
Over time, this creates a culture of silence. Participants learn not to question poor decisions. Coaches tolerate inadequate support. Athletes accept unsafe conditions. Administrators announce programmes without publishing measurable outcomes.
The cost extends beyond poor results in competition.
It appears in wasted investment, abandoned facilities, unemployed professionals, exploited athletes and talented young people leaving Nigeria because credible opportunities do not exist at home.
The reality of Nigerian sport
Nigeria continues to manage much of its sporting talent through an informal survival model:
Everybody for themselves, while the system accepts no responsibility.
Athletes fund their own development. Coaches pay heavily for qualifications. Community clubs depend on founders and parents. Federations struggle to produce reliable participation data. Facilities deteriorate without maintenance plans.
When success eventually arrives, institutions celebrate it. When the pathway fails, responsibility is shifted to the individual.
That is not sports development. It is unmanaged talent survival.
The cycle is clear
Weak governance and unreliable data
↓
Poor planning and fragmented investment
↓
Silence, mistrust and limited accountability
↓
Talent loss and declining sporting assets
↓
Greater dependence on athletes developed abroad
Talent without structure loses value
• Sport cannot operate sustainably through personal sacrifice and informal goodwill.
• Talent without a development pathway is wasted potential.
• Facilities without maintenance data become liabilities.
• Policies without budgets and performance indicators become announcements.
• Funding without public reporting weakens trust.
• Qualifications without employment pathways frustrate professionals.
• Competitions without regular leagues produce activity, not development.
If Nigeria wants sport to contribute to employment, public health, social stability and economic growth, it must be governed as a serious national sector.
What reform should deliver
1. Build data integrity
Nigeria needs verified information on athletes, coaches, clubs, facilities, competitions, injuries, safeguarding, funding and commercial activity.
Every major investment should be connected to measurable outcomes.
2. Establish clear accountability
Each institution must have defined responsibilities, annual targets and public reporting obligations. When targets are missed, corrective action should follow.
Accountability must apply from national federations to state associations, leagues, clubs and academies.
3. Protect the talent pathway
Athletes need qualified coaching, regular competition, medical support, education, safeguarding, fair contracts and transparent progression routes.
Children should not have to choose between education and sport. Young athletes should not have to leave Nigeria simply to find a functioning development environment.
4. Retain sporting knowledge
The talent drain is not limited to athletes. Nigeria also loses coaches, sports scientists, administrators, analysts, medical professionals and commercial specialists.
A credible sports economy must give these professionals reasons to contribute at home, including fair recruitment, professional development, and viable career pathways.
5. Treat sporting assets as investments
Athletes, coaches, facilities, competitions, intellectual property and fan communities all carry economic value.
Without proper management, these assets depreciate. With structure, protection, and a commercial strategy, they can create jobs, attract investment, and deliver long-term national value.
The choice before Nigeria
Nigeria exports talented athletes and skilled professionals, then celebrates their success in systems built by other countries.
The achievement belongs to the individual. Nigeria loses the economic and developmental value.
We cannot keep exporting talent, importing expertise, and calling the outcome national development.
The question for sports leaders and policymakers is therefore straightforward:
Are we prepared to restructure sport as a valuable national industry, or will we continue running a multibillion-naira sector through personal sacrifice and individual survival?
