The newly appointed Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, has pledged to treat all sports equally, without favoring any particular discipline over others.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sports Tonight on Thursday, Dikko stated that all sports will be provided with equal opportunities for development.
“People should not have this fear about football, they say football is king of sports or whatever it is, but we should use football to be able to drive other sports and we should be able to give equal opportunities to other sports,” Dikko said.
While ensuring impartiality among sports, Dikko emphasized the significance of leveraging popular sports to foster the growth and recognition of less popular ones.
“There is no need to isolate one sport and say we are putting all attention to that sport, but at the end of the day, we have to also work on our comparative advantage. Which are the sports that give us comparative advantage, either to get medals or to develop our sports economy we want to do?
“If you look at it, football in Nigeria for example that is a report that says 83% of Nigerians are interested in football, about 65% of Nigerians are participating in football.
“So, we should use the popularity and the appeal of football to drag other sports to come along with us so they can all develop within their comparative advantage and within their own capabilities,” he said.
Dikko shared his vision of transforming the Nigerian sports economy from a consumption-driven model to a production-driven one. This strategic shift aims to foster self-sufficiency and sustainability within the sports ecosystem.
On October 23rd, President Bola Tinubu appointed Mr. Dikko as the Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), following the dissolution of the Ministry of Sports Development and the subsequent transfer of its functions to the NSC.
In a related development, Senator John Enoh, the former Minister of Sports Development, was reassigned as the Minister of State for Trade and Investment.