By Ben Efe 14-7-2025
Former Athletics Federation of Nigeria president and sports philanthropist, Dan Ngerem is drumming support for a comprehensive review of the National Sports Commission establishment to enable it run a profitable sports industry in the country.
Ngerem who was speaking on M4STV anchored by Felix Awogu said the NSC, as it is presently composed, cannot take sports in Nigeria to internationally acclaimed standards. He submitted that sports is a multi billion dollar industry and Nigeria is not doing the right things to tap into the vast potentials and opportunities presented by sports.
“First of all it is an aberration you have just two persons running the NSC without a board. It is like running a major multi billion dollar or naira corporation without a board,” said Mr. Ngerem.
“You have to have principled people with experience to direct the affairs of the NSC, not just the chairman and director -general managing billions of naira, what is their historical antecedents in corporate Nigeria?
He stated that the government alone cannot fund sports, hence there is a need to involve corporate bodies and high networth individuals. However, according to Mr. Ngerem the corporate world even with a long stick will not touch Nigerian sports when there is no accountability.
“There’s no corporate governance in Nigeria sports, no international best practices and in such an atmosphere where there’s no accountability no corporate body or individuals would want to put in their money.
“There should be a body for accountability and not just the executive roughshod a concept like the NSC.”
He said in all the committee documents recommending the setting up of the NSC there was a proviso for a board of the NSC.
“We all clamoured for the return of the NSC, but whoever has set up it should have established a board.
“There was an intrinsic architecture for the NSC in all the documents from the Samuel Ogbemudia committee, Anthony Ikhazoboh committee and Ishola Williams committee…so why wouldn’t there be a board?”
He added that the government should rethink the NSC and the sports federations and give them a benchmark for performance.
“If they don’t deliver they are fired or is the NSC a quasi government organisation.”
Ngerem argued that for Nigerian sports to catch up with the rest of sports developed nations there has to be a policy document that will drive all aspects of sports development.
“What we have now are policy somersaults, lack of direction and sports federation members who do nothing.
“From the NSC to the Nigeria Olympics Committee and sports federations all they do is wait for the government cycle of budgets and spend billions in a competition of two weeks and then after that they go into limbo.
“We waste billions over a two-week competition where people travel with retinue of retainers, their sons and people who have no business in sports.
“But what about preparations and how to get our athletes to prime performance? Nobody talks about it till it’s time for travel.”