The issues listed below contribute to the weaknesses of the thematic area:
- There is an existing national sports development policy that is not functional
- Sports development does not have an active base in educational institutions and
- communities
- Lack of full understanding by all tiers of government of the place, roles, responsibilities, power, and relevance of sports
- Inadequate funding of sports and sports development programmes
- The National Institute for Sports does not have the capacity to fulfill its primary mandate
- The few existing sports facilities in the country are not put to maximum use for sporting activities
More issue below
- There is an undefined relationship between the various levels and agencies of sports
- There are no clear and well defined roles and responsibilities for the different levels and
- agencies of sports
- Sports programmes in the states and local governments (where they exist) are not aligned
- with national objectives or goals for sports development
- Frequent changes of sports administrators at different levels affect continuity Poor record keeping, references and baseline data Inappropriate human capacity in quality, quantity and relevance to sports
- Absence of legislation to backup the establishment of the National S ports Commission
- Lack of standards due to leadership weakness.
The issues listed above cannot be isolated i n assessing their impact on sports. They are often a combination of these challenges that affect sports development.
Strategic Imperatives
The leading sports countries have established special structures of facilities, funding, training, high performance centres, nutrition, medicine and sports sciences through schools, special sports schools, training camps, scholarships and various incentives for their sports development.
Opportunities for Nigeria
- The opportunities of sports in nation building and economic development include:
- Sports for competition - mass participation in institutions (schools, tertiary institutions, clubs,
- academies, etc) to provide a pool from which
- Sports as an economic tool - through a continuous export of Nigeria's best talents who will
- repatriate their earnings to the country, invest in the local economies, generate commercial
- activities during major sports events and provide a healthy workforce
- Sports as an educational tool - all round education of children, inculcating positive values,
- spirit of healthy competition, team work and cooperation, fair-play, leadership, friendship