Development of Sports and Sports for Development
By Professor Emmanuel Ojeme
‘The development of sports and sports for development’ is the hybridised and reciprocal conceptual framework that captures the new Minister of Sports strategic approach to the administration and management of sports in Nigeria in the dispensation ushered in by the appointment of Hon. John Owan-Enoh as Sports Minister.
There is no doubt that this hybridised and reciprocal approach is comprehensive and perceptive enough to drive sports development in Nigeria. What exactly does this mean and what are the ramifying implications for sports as a social institution in Nigeria? Where exactly are we now in each of the segments of this conceptual framework? These are the questions that this article will briefly attempt to examine.
Sports development focuses on the upliftment and sustenance of the standard of sports in Nigeria in terms of:
1. Organisation and administration of sports programmes and practice in relation to set objectives, vertically and horizontally.
2. Ensuring the systematic availability and maintenance of sports infrastructure and equipment
3. Enhancing the number of athletes at all levels participating in sports under the guidance of cognately competent sports personnel.
4. Organisation of capacity building workshops and programmes aimed at building athletes performance skills and personnel competences
5. Welfare of service providers in the sports domain, including athletes and personnel.
6. Healthcare and counselling services for all sports operator
7. Sponsorship of research and development programmes
8. Pursuit of attainment of world class athletic performances vertically and horizontally.
9. Building structures and systems in social organisations to drive sports development efforts.
10. Monitoring and evaluation of programmes, practices, institutions and systems operating in the sports sector.
11. Documentation of sports data and information in all ramifications.
12. Education and training of sports personnel.
It is unarguable that the foregoing largely captures the focus of sports development and that these development efforts would lead to the attainment of predetermined and prescribed standards locally, nationally and internationally foe a given society or nation.
It could be seen that sports development could be for its intrinsic outcomes but the extrinsic dimension which focuses on sports for development is also crucial. What are the contributions of sports to society, state and nation?
This second dimension provides motivation also for the prioritization of sports as a sector for development in a society or nation. Sports in this regard is a tool for:
1. Human development
2. Social integration
3. Technological advancement and development
4. Employment generation
5. Sports business and entrepreneurship
6. Economic development which the United Nations declaration of 2001 emphasizes.
7. International diplomacy
8. Youth empowerment
9. Tourism, recreation and leisure services
The attainment of the sustainable mission of both sports development and sports for development inevitably necessitates;
1. A national ideological spinal cord in which sports has a socket
2. An organic sports development policy framework that provides systematic road map and obligations for goal acutalisation
3. Development of cognate sports institutions, organisations and systems driven by cognate human and material resources
4. Appropriate material and human resources investment
5. Leaders capacity to differentiate ‘Chefs and Nutritionists’ or ‘Technicians/Mechanics from Technology/Engineers’, metaphorically speaking in role assignments. Sports development and sports for development paradigm could fall victim to failure to differentiate operators in these various categories within the sports sector.
6. Proper coordination of upstream and downstream operators and programmes; there must also be proper role definition and differentiation in this regard.
8. Visionary and missionary competent leaders and personnel who share the dream and possess the competences as well as motivational traits to translate development blueprints to actual goal attainment.
Nigeria today, obviously is punching below its weight in both arms of the paradigm under consideration in this article. Based on our well acknowledged potential, it is conceivable that the Chief Sports officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, that is, the Sports Minister, has a mountain to climb. The current Sports Minister seems to possess the appropriate outlook as evident in his pronouncements, one of which is analysed in this article. It is our hope that the Minister as the Chief Pilot and stakeholders would find the conversation in this article useful in this endeavour aimed at actualizing the intent of sports development and sports for development dictum.
Goodluck Nigeria.
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Professor Emmanuel Ojeme, sent this piece. You can reach Ojeme, via successojeme@yahoo.com
