… calls for greater investment to drive Nigerian sports
The chairman, Senate Committee on Sports Development, Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi, has rued the absence of the Super Eagles from the ongoing 2026 World Cup, jointly being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, calling for greater investment to drive Nigerian sports.
Sporting Tribune reports that Nigeria has missed two consecutive tournaments: the 2022 edition in Qatar and the 2026.
Out of 48 teams that qualified for the 2026 World Cup, 10 African countries are hoisting the continent’s flag.
Ningi, who was speaking with journalists at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Nigeria Hockey Super League, said Nigeria needs to engage its youth positively to achieve optimum results while noting that their (youths) percentage, if properly managed, will go a long way in changing the narrative of sports development in the country.
The federal lawmaker made reference to Cape Verde with its tiny population participating at the World Cup, saying Nigeria, with its exploits in the football world, was missing out despite it potentials in the round leather game.
While commending the Bola Tinubu administration for its commitment towards sports funding with increased budgetary allocation to the sector since assumption of office, he frowned at the low pace at which the funds were released by those in charge of sports administration in the country.
Ningi, who was the immediate past President of the Nigeria Hockey Federation (NHF), charged the National Sports Commission (NSC) to give room for wider stakeholders’ involvement and participation in sports policy and administration, saying allowing such will not only lead to meaningful reforms, improved funding and inclusive decision-making but will reposition Nigerian sports for sustained success on the continental and global stage.
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On Nigeria’s World Cup absence, he said, “Today we’re in America, 10 slots, Nigeria is not there. And you could see the fans’ agony over concentrating on just one sport. Even as we have concentrated, we couldn’t make the 10 slots from Africa. So it is sad, but it has happened. So let’s look to the future. And I pray that you journalists will have to key in, because you are the ones to send this message.
“Once young men are taken off the street to play sports, then they are no longer criminals. You cannot find anybody in history, in my memory, who had played this game and has ever been convicted of any crime. And I’ve been playing this game for almost 45 years or so.
“I cannot remember any hockey player that has played in the nation or in the state that has been convicted of any crime. And you could see the crime is because we are not paying attention to sports, and we are not taking these young men off the street. And as long as we pay lip service to sports and sports development, we are going nowhere. And we are so blessed.”
“You see Cape Verde, 580,000, that’s their population. Just 80,000 above half a million. Look at what they have done to their country. We have a population of over 200 million, and we couldn’t get a team to work up with such development. We need to charge, we need to rethink, we need to resist it.
“Let me first admit that for a very long time, since the emergence of democracy in 1999, this President has been able to show interest in sports, in prioritising allocations. But the problem with the allocations from 2023, when he took over, was the issue of release.
“A lot of money in 2024, lots of money in 2025, lots of money for sports in 2026, but the releases are far in between. So while you can appreciate what the president is doing, then certainly somewhere, somehow, some of the bureaucrats are not happy with sports.
“Some of them say they don’t see the importance of sports and therefore there was this lackadaisical, nonchalant attitude in releasing funds to sports administrators, and we must change that. Secondly, the National Sports Commission must expand its horizon.
“Let everybody have a say. Let all stakeholders m be there. You see, we are a nation that produced ex this, ex that over three, four decades. So let them be inculcated. Let them be involved in making sure that this sport is moved and moved in the interest of Nigeria.”
