“RE-THINKING THE CURRENT FOOTBALL BUSINESS MODEL IN NIGERIA AS A CATALYST FOR SPORTS DEVELOPMENT,” BEING THE SUBJECT OF KEYNOTE SPECIAL ADDRESS AT THE PUBLIC PRESENTATION OF MUMINI ALAO’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY AT THE TAYO ADERINOKUN HALL, UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS ON SUNDAY, 10TH AUGUST 2025.
I am very enthusiastic about being at this event, to receive Mumini Alao’s autobiography and thank him sincerely for the privilege he has afforded me: not only to get a copy of his book in advance, but also to give me this important platform to speak about a subject much after my heart, sports generally and football in particular.
I must also thank him for allowing me to modify the subject from the initial football only focus to the larger issue of sports, because, as I intend to show, what benefits sports in general will benefit football automatically.
Over the last few years, I have tried to develop a document around which I hoped we could create a brain trust to unlock the limitless possibilities that sports can bring to us as a people if we act deliberately and consistently, and I must confess that the work is unfinished, but the views I will share here are intrinsically part of that work.
But why sports, and why now, some might ask? My answer is simple: why not sports, and why not now?
Let us start with the timing, why now. This is the time in the history of human civilization when talent is being most rewarded, and I venture to predict that this is just the beginning.
Whether it is talent in photography, music, arts, movie making, or any other form of creative or entertaining work, the world view has changed dramatically; and sports, as an expression of talent, has come to be in the vanguard of high value earnings as a career.
This was unthinkable one generation ago.
Sportsmen and women are earning incomes and living lives of luxury that once used to be the preserve of the traditional professions of medicine, law, architecture, engineering, and the likes at the time sports was largely viewed as a hobby.
The thinking that must therefore change by everyone in this assembly and those who get to hear about it is simple — yesterday’s hobbies, and part-time engagements have become full-time well-paid professions in today’s emerging global economic order.
These professions are creating a vast pathway to a meaningful life for people who would otherwise have existed on the margins of society.
These new breed of professionals are the new employers of the traditional professions of lawyers, doctors, architects, engineers, therapists, and others who they just only used to entertain for tokens, in the old economic order.
Today, they not only provide entertainment for them, they also employ them.
This is a major shift in the economic balance, and it is even more important because the profession of sports employs mainly young people from their early teenage years to now about 40 years. It has very little if any space for 50-year-olds and above.
So, when I reflect on the Nigerian problem of youth employment, I tell myself that it persists perhaps because we have been ignoring the solution.
It seems clear to me that a major solution for youth unemployment is hiding in plain sight— it is sports development.
If we reflect on the number of people that music, film, fashion, and photography to mention a few have employed; and reflect on the possibilities which lie in sports with team and individual performances, it will be clear what we have missed.
One example of such sports-based employment, is our chief host today, Mumini Alao, in whose honour we are gathered, and Complete Sports magazine, which gave him a career in sports journalism as an editor and writer for over 3 (three) decades.
But apart from some sports dedicated print media outlets and perhaps for the sports on radio, how many dedicated sports TV stations have been licenced by the National Broadcasting Commission and how many are functional.
For context, I ask you to pay attention to the Super Sports channels on our DSTV bouquet, and the last time I counted there were 15 dedicated Supersport channels covering tennis, cricket, NFL, Football, snooker, wrestling, golfing, motor racing, basketball and more.
But this is not the story. The story is the jobs created on each channel for reporters, camera men, script writers, editors, producers, technicians and many more.
Think therefore of the number of jobs in Sky sports, ESPN, DAZN, BEMSPORTS, Fox Sports and the many dedicated sports channels that exist the world over.
And these are just jobs that support sports, not the jobs of the sportsmen themselves.
And if I may quickly dimension the possibilities of support jobs, let me ask: how many are aware of the number of employees in the Premier League clubs who entertain us from week to week when the season is on?
I know that until recently when Manchester United undertook a cost cutting programme and reduced their staff strength by 250 people, they used to employ about 1,100 people in long-term permanent jobs.
If we simply project 500 people per club in a 20-team premier league, that is 10,000 jobs in just the premier league alone, without talking of the Championship, League 1 and lower leagues.
The types of jobs such as coaches, scouts, psychologists, nutritionists, physiotherapists, etc are too extensive and far-ranging to be fully examined on a platform like this. This is a matter for another forum if we get the message and we chose to act deliberately and decisively.
For the sportsmen themselves, we are, I believe, fairly aware of the weekly income of some of our sports stars, Nigerian and others nationalities who earn hundreds of thousands of pounds and dollars weekly in football.
But how many are aware that a young female tennis star whose career started about 5 years ago has earned over $24 Million in prize money and she is just 21, or that snooker players, a less talked about sport in these parts, earn between £200,000 to £1 million per annum.
As far back as 2015, the Premier League alone was contributing £3.36 billion pounds to the United Kingdom’s GDP and was supporting the employment of 100,000 full time employees while also adding £2.4 billion pounds to the country’s tax income.
The television rights from the Premier League were being broadcast to 185 countries and an audience of about 730 million homes. Income from television broadcast therefore increased from £40 million to £1.7 billion. Around the same period, football tourism was generating €940 million to the UK economy.
Saudi Arabia has also embraced sport as a means of diversifying the economy from oil and creating employment. They have invested an average of £5 billion per annum over the last three years across many sports and they are already reporting a one per cent growth in GDP from sports alone.
These are only snippets of what is possible if we take sports seriously.
What then must we do? I believe this is what Mumini Alao wants us to discuss.
I believe I have opened the window into the ‘why’; now let me proceed to share some of my thoughts about the ‘how’.
First and foremost, we must embrace sports as part of our national development plan.
In my time as minister, when the Federal Executive Council was debating the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan ERGP (2017-2020) to take the country out of the recession, I argued in council that sports should be one of our pillars of development and economic growth to create jobs, apart from infrastructure, agriculture, transport, energy, and the usual suspects.
To some, it sounded like heresy or at best an over simplification of a very serious issue.
Needless to say, I was unsuccessful, partly because of the urgency of deploying the plan that was at an advanced stage and awaiting cabinet approval for parliamentary legislative consideration.
I am pleased to say that much later in the course of my service, when we prepared the 2021-2025 National Development Plan, sports was finally elevated to an economic pedestal for job creation, economic development, and empowerment.
This is most important. Although it is not the first time in our history and I will get to the historical aspect that we can leverage on.
But having now put sports in our national development plan it is necessary to take many more steps.
The first that I would suggest, is to create an all-of-country awareness using every media portal possible that as a people we are committed to optimising the enormous possibilities of sports as not just entertainment but also as a business and a profession.
Second, we must then develop the manpower capacity for training talent, nurturing talent, and optimising their potential into positive outcomes.
This will involve the full review of our education curriculum from primary school, through secondary schools, polytechnics, and universities.
It will involve the National Union of Teachers (through the Physical Education teachers), the association of Nigerian Principals of schools, and the National University Commission (NUC) to develop faculties for specializing in sports education in universities (where they do not already exist).
I remain mindful of cadet or amateur sports as distinct from professional sports and how they can feed into each other. That must start with specialized personnel such as the Physical Education Teacher (P.E) of which my last check revealed that there are about 747 in 406 schools in Lagos who hold degrees such as B.Sc Education in Human Kinetics, Physical and Health Education . But this platform does not permit me to go into more of the detail.
Third, as we are building the manpower, we must commit to the infrastructure by integrating transport services to venues like stadiums and other sporting centres.
An audit of existing stadia and the road networks is a good place to start.
In some places only minimal upgrades will be needed to retrofit it. In others extensive reconstruction will be required.
What is most needed is the resolve to take the first critical step.
I can recall that back in Lagos we had to create a BRT bus terminal in front of the Teslim Balogun and National Stadium which was not in the original design.
The reason was that we understood the importance of easy access and exit, crowd management, and this later informed the location of the Lagos Blue Line Train Station between CMS bus stop and State House Marina to create a walking distance from the Terminus to Onikan stadium, long before it was rebuilt.
This conscious integration of venues with transport infrastructure will require collaboration between Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), and Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) and other professional organisations in the built industry.
Whilst still on infrastructure we must recognize the need to modify in the medium-term existing facilities and build new ones as multi-purpose centres for sports, concerts, meetings, retail outlets, spas, and kids play pens. This is what will bring families not just individuals.
Also, the era of large capacity stadia and those located in the outskirts of towns is dying. FIFA is favouring community-based stadia like the Agege Stadium with local ownership and they range from over 5,000 to 20,000 capacities.
Fourth, if we are to bring people to these arenas, they must feel safe not only to come but to bring their families and therefore safety and security is non-negotiable.
The key is not only to work with experts in law enforcement and security but also to develop specialized manpower in policing, crowd control, crowd safety and anti-terrorism capabilities because large crowds have a special appeal for terrorists.
(7A.M safety protocol, Man United game cancelled; Queen’s funeral; postponement of premier league; stewards and safety staff in vests; (Medical capacity)- Ambulances, Clinics, medical and paramedic staff.
Fifth and very importantly, we must bring about proper governance, a clear calendar, regulations that must be enforced and perhaps, arbitration or other dispute resolution apparatus of the highest integrity and acceptance.
While the first four items I have mentioned are challenging, the governance is perhaps the most challenging of all in my view because it depends more than others on the character of people.
There must be no room in this space for tardiness, sloppiness, or uncertainty. Everyone must know where they stand at all times.
We will probably need new laws by National and State Houses of Assemblies.
The Nigerian Bar Association will be critical in this regard.
The National Sports Commission and the National Institute for Sports will now have to sit down and prepare a National Calendar of Sports, of how local government and school sports will fit into the National Sports Festival to produce talents for the All African Games, which will feed into the Commonwealth Games, which will lead to the Olympics and World Cup respectively without clashing.
There must be no doubt about when the National Premier League will start because there is no excuse for ad-hoc stoppages which is unacceptable.
Right now, even before pre-season training, is to commence the 2025-2026 English Premier league fixture is out. I must acknowledge that the Nigeria Professional Football League Fixtures for 2025/2026 are also out.
This is what enables corporations, investors, and stakeholders take investment decisions.
(Police, transport, food vendors and many others are already planning with that calendar).
Between June and July, the whole of Europe entered the summer season, their best weather, and schools have closed.
What you will see now are many youth sports events at local, national and international level keeping young people busy.
What is our national plan for the long holiday to engage young people and keep them away from drugs and crime?
Sixth, the Government at federal, state and local governments have many roles to play in a collaborative and enabling way.
For example, fiscal and monetary policy tools such as tax credits, import and customs duties and concessions designed to stimulate investment in sports for construction, equipment and sponsorship will be needed.
Lagos provides a good example of how event centres for parties has phased out street parties and unleashed a massive economy that is still growing and employing people in the entertainment industry, simply because Government enforced the law prohibiting street parties and actively encouraged the development of alternatives.
The principles will be applicable to sports development.
Seventh, our international and diplomatic relations must consciously embrace this mission of sports development and seek to leverage partnerships and lessons from successful nations, not through a jamboree of travel but by inviting the best to work here and help develop our talent or by Exchange programmes to build the capacity of our future trainers. (Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica in sprints and Kenya in the marathons.)
Eighth: I hear the unspoken question about where will the money come from.
My answer is that we must develop a plan and programme that is capable of being funded before we start losing sleep about funds.
Almost too often we agonize about funding without developing a workable plan.
If there is a good plan, funding will follow it and there is an example of Club 400 in the past and a well-considered plan in the past which I will share before I close.
In the recent past in Lagos we developed a plan that created a sports activity from March to December every year.
We had all school sports from March to June and from July to December we had Table Tennis, Squash, Swimming, Scrabble, the Governor’s Lawn Tennis Cup and the climax was on 26th December at the Boxing finals at Rowe Park which I attended diligently.
These events were coordinated by many dedicated men and women like Enitan Oshodi, Wale Edun, Prince Ademola Adeniji-Adele, Deji Wellington, Chief Pius Akinyelure, Wale Oladunjoye, Engr. Afolabi Salami, HRM Oba Gbolahan Lawal, the Oniru Mr. Babatunde Fatayi-Williams, Dr. Niran Adeniji, Miss Tayo Popoola and others too numerous to mention.
Not only did they produce many talents for state and country, they revived the interest of old sponsors like Chief Rasak Okoya and his Asoju Oba cup, FCMB, Etisalat, Julius Berger and many others brands became willing and enthusiastic partners and sponsors.
Let me now pivot back into history and our past to demonstrate that what I have laid out as a pathway to sports development has been done before and we can only improve upon it.
Anybody who is familiar with Nigerian sports will remember the name of Major General Henry Edmund Olufemi Adefope, a patriot of no mean repute.
A few years ago, a posthumous biography of him was published and I asked for and got a copy although I regretfully could not attend the event because of the pressure of work.
The book is a treasure trove of how sports was used to unify Nigeria post war and how it became a driver of national prestige and development.
Chapter 7 of the book is titled “Sports Development” and runs from pages 106-162.
Let me share excerpts to show what the National Sports Commission, which he chaired, had set out to do, and how they approached their work, starting from their inauguration by Chief Anthony Enahoro then who was not only the Commissioner (Minister) for Information and Culture but also sports:
“When Major General Henry Adefope was appointed as the head of the Nigerian Sports Council in 1967, the body was not more than a mere appendage of a government’s sector, but as time went on its role was expanded under a new name known as the National Sports Commission, which was inaugurated in the early 1970s..”
“The National Sports Council was re-organised in 1971 under Decree no 34 of the Federal Government, to be known as National Sports Commission, as a way of putting together formidable machineries for the hosting of the 2nd All African Games; and for the continuous development of the country’s sports in the future…”
“The Federal Commissioner for Information and Labour and with Special Responsibility for Sports – Chief Anthony Enahoro -announced this officially during a press conference 14 August 1971. According to him, “a 53-Member National Sports Commission’s body had been established by the Federal Government to encourage and develop sports and Games throughout Nigeria.” ChiefEnahoro himself was a good sportsman who used to play cricket during his days at the Kings
College, Lagos. The following are excerpts from the text of Enahoro’s speech while inaugurating the National Sports Commission…”
“…Mr Chairman (Henry Adefope) and Members of the National Sports Commission, Your Excellencies and Distinguished Guests! It gives me a great pleasure to welcome you here in this historic occasion of the inauguration of the National Sports Commission, which I (Enahoro) hoped would open up a new chapter in the annals of sports in this country. I am particularly delighted to welcome you…”
“Since then, it would be true that the country’s expectations have not been realised, for a variety of reasons. As I have had occasions to say elsewhere, these reasons include the unsatisfactory structure of sports administration in Nigeria, untidy arrangement which resulted in dissipation of energy, lack of central direction and guidance, total absence of effective coordination, severe shortage of training facilities, lack of systematic talent hunting, waste of potentials which we all agree abound in the country, apathy, falling standard and general frustration on the part of sportsmen.
Mr Chairman, we all know the state of affairs in sports in Nigeria and I will not bore you with a catalogue of disappointments, our failures and our shortcomings.”
“It is sufficient to say that in recognition of the need to remedy the situation and in pursuit of the nation’s ardent desires, that the Federal Government has decided to establish a coordinating body, vested with sufficient powers to give central direction and to ensure effectiveness in planning and organising sports and sports facilities throughout the country. Given this background of this need and desire, what are your functions and what does the nation expect of you? Your functions are accordingly set out in Section 3 of the Decree 34 under which the Commission was established. They are:
i. To encourage the development and organisation of, and participate in, sports in Nigeria;
ii. To co-ordinate and integrate efforts to raise the standard of performance in sports in Nigeria;
iii. To make, on behalf of States Sports Councils, necessary arrangements for competitions, technical assistance, recruitment of coaches and for any such other matters as the Commission may think fit;
iv. To promote, in co-operation with other sports bodies or sports groups, the physical fitness and general well-being of all persons in Nigeria;
v. To organise, or assist financially or otherwise, the participation in sports at inter-state, national and international level;
vi. To train Nigerians to become sportsmen and instructors in sports;
vii. To conduct and encourage research into all matters relating to sports;
viii. To provide and maintain sports centres and facilities for the training of Nigerian as instructor in, and organisers of sports; and;
ix. To ensure the participation of all sportsmen where required in inter-state, national and international competitions…”
“This is the letter of the law but, if I may express your functions in terms of the people’s desires and in terms of the aims and objectives of the Federal Government, your assignment is: to raise the standard of performance in sports in Nigeria; to ensure increased or mass participation in sports for recreation and relaxation; to encourage an increasing number of children and young people to engage in planned exercise, training and competitions in all sports at all levels; to produce performers and performances of world standard; … to encourage the systematic and effective development and organisation of, and participation in sports in Nigeria; to build and extend easily accessible centres of active recreation in sports’ facilities within the reach of the average Nigerian; as well as to provide healthy diversion and promote leadership training to our young people…”
We do not expect instant results. Indeed, perhaps what we need is a master plan, a ten-year development and transformation programme based on comprehensive and comprehensible policies. If you can produce sound policies and programme, show leadership and dedication, inspire mass participation and work concertedly to bring about a revolution in sports in Nigeria, you will have done your duty and justify your appointment…
Significantly, Brigadier H. E. O. Adefope, in his acceptance speech on that special occasion, vowed to develop sports in Nigeria and make sure that he laid a solid foundation for the Nigerian sports. The following words are parts of the speech contained in the full text he delivered in his capacity as the Chairman of the consolidated Nigerian Sports Commission:
“‘The Honourable Commissioner, Your Excellencies, My Lords, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen! On behalf of the National Sports Commission and on behalf of all sportsmen and women, we express our profound gratitude to the Federal Military Government for the promulgation of Decree No. 34. We are grateful to the Supreme Military Council for its continued interest in the provision of sports facilities and the development of sports in our great country…”
“The inauguration of the National Sports Commission is concrete evidence of the Federal Military Government’s determination to promote sports development throughout the Federation and it is the determination of all members of the Commission to ensure that this goal is achieved. … The development of sports in Nigeria does not depend entirely upon Sports Administrators only, but also involves the Federal and States’ Government; all institutions of learning from the Primary Schools to University Levels should also have free periods for organised sports in their curricula…”
“The National Sports Commission should be in a position to assist States’ Sports Councils in the provision of sports facilities and organisation of competitions. In addition to sizeable increase in subvention to the Commission, the Federal Military Government would make the work of the Commission easier by given urgent attention to the following requests:
1. The inclusion of the National Sports Commission in Decree No. 10 of 1971 so that Commercial Firms that make sizeable contributions to the Commission may benefit from some forms of tax relief;
2. Removal of Import Duty on all items of sports kits and equipment ordered by the Commission; and
3. The provision of Training Institute to allow the training of large numbers of Sports Organisers and Coaches.
The standard of sports in Nigeria at present is very low and this has not always been due to lack of funds, of facilities or of organisation, but also to lack of national consciousness which every competitor must have in order to exhibit the dedication and determination which are essential for success in competitions. Mass participation in Sports – as shown by research – enhances industrial production results in a virile and healthy nation, reduces child and adolescent delinquencies, enhances national prestige and is a potent weapon for promotion of unity in a country like ours…”
“In addition, the managing directors of Barclays Bank, UAC, BEWAC and Dunlop, alongside some influential Nigerians like Chief Gabriel Igbinedion and Alhaji Danladi were members of the club. In its categorisation, membership of the club was divided in two levels, namely: the executives and ordinary members. The executives made up of financial members who contributed up to 250 pounds, while the ordinary members paid up to 100 pounds which could bring the funds of the club to about 40,000 pounds in a year…”
“In addition, provisions were made for members of Club 400 and their family members to watch football matches free of charge in any stadium in Nigeria. All they needed to do was to show their Club 400 Badge. This practice lasted until the time Adefope left office as Chairman of the National Sports Commission in 1975…”
Now that we have seen all of what has been done, what can be done, and still needs to be done, how do these general recommendations respond to Mumini Alao’s concerns about the ownership of football clubs by states and their sustainability, and how to get Nigerian spectatorship back into the stadia?
The first thing to say is that modern arenas – with multi-purpose functions, will attract people, increased media coverage, safe parking, reliable transport services into and out of the venue, and the safety of the patrons and their families – will assure them.
Simple raffle draws at half-time, using the ticket numbers to give token prizes like jerseys, useful devices like smartphones and souvenirs, but certainly no cash are options that can be considered as creative incentives.
Governance, regulation, planning and calendarization are investment assurances and incentives for sponsorships.
Most clubs around the world have supporters within the local communities and outside who own part of the clubs.
The time has come for those state-government-owned clubs to divest themselves of most or all of their shares and sell them to public under advice from those who have expertise in privatization not for self-serving purposes but to real business and sports minded concerns and supporters who will have a corporate governance and be subject to audits and company laws.
In the effort to build ownership and by extension followership, support and ultimately brand identity, existing state-owned clubs must project a brand that people want to identify with and this varies across board from state to state.
This identity will be discernible not from any superficial reasoning but from scientific investigation, both as poll/survey of what the people want or identify with.
This will include—but will not be limited to—the name, colours, prevalent occupation in the area, that excludes ethnicity and religion. Township identities, occupational dominance and cultural practices are good branding considerations as the states seek to divest or new proprietors seek to inaugurate.
Financial instruments such as insurance policies and bonds, and bank guarantees must be used to ensure that players’ and staff salaries are guaranteed before each season starts, and they can be enforceable in the event of default. This will require the Central Bank and other financial institutions to put on their thinking caps.
Bankruptcy and liquidation proceedings already in our laws must be firmly applied to remove the cancer of failing clubs before they spread and contaminate others.
A minimum wage must be set for footballers applicable nationwide, while higher wages are weighted based on skill and performance.
I have shared my headline thoughts about what I think needs – and must – be done to leverage the waiting opportunities in sports.
I have shown from reference to Gen. Adefope’s biography that we will not be wading into uncharted territories, because what we need to do has been done before.
I will close by reiterating and highlighting some of those things again for emphasis.
As has been the case with many challenges we have confronted, the solutions are within reach if we are prepared to do the hard work, enforce the rules and delay gratification. We must not look for quick fixes. I subscribe to the idea of a 10 Year Plan and a decade of commitment to sports development.
We must appoint sports administrators with proven knowledge and personal discipline who understand that our objective is not to win at all costs, but to win in the end by building something that lasts.
The resources we require, in terms of manpower abound amongst our large number of persons below the age of 30 who have talent and energy.
Teachers and coaches must be co-ordinated for talent scouting and development.
Architects, builders and allied professionals must be co-ordinated to integrate existing transport infrastructure with sporting facilities and arenas; and develop new ones.
Health workers of all cadres must seek the importance of sports to the human developmental index and collaborate to develop nutrition, care, support and deliver the best.
Lawyers and arbitrators are required to be trained, to update and modernise the laws and regulations, and to ensure unflinching implementation.
The media, communication and advertising professionals must re-position their approach for optimising the possibilities (training of personnel, investment in equipment, incentives for sponsorships).
Government at federal level must focus on licencing dedicated sports outlets in print and electronic platforms to support the popularisation and publication of sports.
In addition, this level of government must consider fiscal (and possibly monetary) policies that help to attract investment into sports on many fronts – particularly equipment manufacturing.
The lottery and betting business in Nigeria is growing and this is an area controlled by the state governments. The time to attract the undoubted cash in this business into sports and football business is now, without compromising the integrity of competition, results and fair competition.
There are estimated to be about 40 million micro, small and medium enterprises in Nigeria, spread across the 36 states, 768 local governments and 6 area councils.
This is a large asset, and each state where they are situated can stimulate them to invest based on fiscal policies like tax credits or tax holidays.
Ownership of these businesses can be attracted to invest into existing clubs – for advertising and broadcast rights, for example.
The stadia and arenas must be made family-friendly by embracing local and community policy (Onikan), complemented by the law enforcement personnel.
We must develop a new generation of officials, umpires, Referees who administer the rules of various sports with utmost integrity and we must have no tolerance for hooliganism or violence under any guise.
Finally, and emphatically, we must ensure – amongst many other things – that there is absolutely no space for drug use, abuse or cheating in our sports, or in any sports facility in Nigeria.
With the global epidemic of drug abuse the prime objective of our sports programme must be to find the best talent, and keep it untainted as it is nurtured to the peak of its most natural ability.
Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, CON
