Sport- An Untapped Sector in Nigeria

Sport- An Untapped Sector in Nigeria

Whenever the name sport is mentioned in Nigeria, then football is what would first come to the mind of people as it is the sport that is most common amongst Nigerians especially the males, and every weekend, football houses are betting shops are always filled to the brim especially when two tough opponents are facing each other.

Sport is a viable sector but we have failed to utilize it well in Nigeria also, sports can also be a means of employment if it is properly structured and this can be seen in countries like U.K which is home to the most entertaining league also known as the English Premier League.

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They also have a body in charge of governing the league known as FA which means Football Association furthermore, countries like the United States of America have also made basketball and baseball a very attractive sport.

The term Sport according to the Oxford dictionary can be defined as an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.

Sport, in general, are divided into two groups namely:

Indoor sports: These are sports that are done indoors and they are the sports that are less popular as most people enjoy fancy outdoor sports to indoor sports.

Outdoor sport: Outdoor sports are majorly grouped into track and field events and these ones are popular compared to indoor sports as most people find this category enjoyable and fascinating.

We would list some of the popular indoor and outdoor sports and we would also give a brief description of each of them below:

Football: Football is a game where a round or oval object is kicked with the leg or thrown with the hands and in the United States, football is played with the hands while in the United Kingdom and other countries, football is played with the legs.

Basketball: Basketball is a game where an oval ball is played between two teams with each team having five (5) players each and the goal is to put the ball into the net. Basketball is popular in the United States and they also have a league called NBA which is the most-watched basketball league in the world.

Chess: Chess is the number one indoor game in the world and it is a board game with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid and the aim of the game is to checkmate the king and if this cannot be done in a stipulated number of moves, then the game would end in a stalemate.

Scrabble: Scrabble is another popular board game and this game requires the players to form words that can be found in the scrabble dictionary on a board and each letter is assigned a number and the number of points a player gets for each word formed is determined by the total number of points the numbers assigned to the alphabet adds up to.

Tennis: Tennis can either be played on the table or on the lawn but the aim is to hit a ball by using the bat without a reply from the opponent.

Please note that there are numerous indoor and outdoor games we did not list in this article so ensure that you read on them after you are done with this article.

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HOW CAN NIGERIA TAP INTO THE SPORTS SECTOR AND WHAT ROLE DOES GOVERNMENT HAVE TO PLAY?

The Sports Sector is a goldmine and a lot of countries that have seen these have started investing in the sports sector but Nigeria is yet to fully realize the potentials of this sector.

Like we previously stated Sport provides a means of livelihood and that is why football has had a positive impact on countries like Brazil where most of the youths especially the males venture into playing football and they have been able to nurture talents like Ronaldinho, Neymar, Ronaldo, Kaka to mention a few that have stunned the world with their talents.

The government can impact the sports sector by ensuring that there is adequate security during games and also to ensure that the lives of the officials and players are well protected as we have heard cases where fans threaten to deal with a referee and in the process favours the home team.

Furthermore, if the government can provide basic amenities like good roads and also build good stadiums then transportation of players would be easy and comfortable and also the matches would be entertaining as we have heard of conditions where players travel for over five(5) hours in the night using a commercial bus for a match that they would play in the next two(2) days and this can lead to fatigue and hence the performances of the players would be negatively affected.

The more attractive we make our sporting events, the more the viewers and investors would be attracted hence the revenue of the government would improve as each organization must pay their tax to the government where that organization is based.

In conclusion, we still have a lot to do in the sports sector in Nigeria and this is due to the fact that we are mostly reliant on the educational sector and in the process leave other viable sectors just like the sports sector to suffer The sports sector is an untapped goldmine in Nigeria and if we can maximize the potentials in this sector, then we would be grateful that we ever did that.