The newly appointed Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, has assured Nigerians that no sports will be promoted at the expense of others.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sports Tonight on Thursday, Dikko said all sports with be given equal opportunity to develop.
“People should not have this fear about football, they say football is king of sports or whatever it is, but we should use football to be able to drive other sports and we should be able to give equal opportunities to other sports,” Dikko said.
While promising not to give undue advantage to one sport, Dikko maintained that it is imperative that more popular sports are used to promote the unpopular ones.
“There is no need to isolate one sport and say we are putting all attention to that sport, but at the end of the day, we have to also work on our comparative advantage. Which are the sports that give us comparative advantage, either to get medals or to develop our sports economy we want to do?
“If you look at it, football in Nigeria for example that is a report that says 83% of Nigerians are interested in football, about 65% of Nigerians are participating in football.
“So, we should use the popularity and the appeal of football to drag other sports to come along with us so they can all develop within their comparative advantage and within their own capabilities,” he said.
Dikko also disclosed his intention to build the Nigerian sports economy, saying that they are trying to move Nigerian sports ecosystem from consumption driven to be production driven.
President Bola Tinubu appointed Dikko as the NSC Chairman on October 23 following the dissolution of the Ministry of Sports Development and transferring of its functions to the Sports Commission.
The Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, was redeployed as the Minister of State for Trade and Investment.
