By Gloria Ikibah
The Speaker House of Representatives, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas, has revealed plans to set up a National Sports Academy aimed at revitalising grassroots sports and nurturing young talents for international success.
Speaker Abbas disclosed this during the first-ever distribution of sports equipment to principal officers and members of the House Committee on Sports for their various constituencies, on Wednesday in Abuja.
He emphasised that returning to grassroots sports is key to restoring Nigeria’s former dominance in global sporting competitions.
Reflecting on his days as a student and later as a teacher in the 1970s, Abbas recalled how inter-primary and inter-secondary school sports tournaments were regular events that produced many of Nigeria’s sports legends.
He noted that early exposure to competitive sports is crucial, as it is during such school competitions that exceptional talents are discovered and nurtured for future greatness.
He said: “The time has come with the dwindling fortune of Nigeria in the sport sector particularly in the last appearances at the Olympics sports where we came back without a medal.
“It is unacceptable for a country of over 200 million people to go for completions and come back without a medal.
“At the last Olympics, Saint Lucia with a population of less than 100,000 people won gold medal but Nigeria with over 200 million came back with nothing, it is unacceptable.
“I have put in the budget to build a National Sports Academy with all outdoor and indoor games for children of secondary school age who are identified though grassroots competitions will be admitted to continue their sports development.
“I believe that at the end of the day, this initiative will bring a lot of international stars that Nigeria will be proud of”.
Speaker Abbas explained that one way to regain Nigeria’s glory is to discontinue the current system where athletes are picked based on who they know and return to grassroots competitions.
He therefore charged members of the house to prioritise sports in their constituency development projects; as he said rather than focusing on skill acquisition centres or clinics which may not achieve long term goals due to lack of funding, building sports centre and organising competitions will never go wrong.
The speaker noted that sports will not only engage youths gainfully, it will spark development and revenue generation at constituency level for the country as a whole.
He further commended the committee for achieving the feat in a space of six months, which is the first of its kind in the history of the National Assembly.
Earlier in his remarks, Chairman House Committee on Sports, Rep. Kabiru Amadu commended President Bola Tinubu and the leadership of the National Assembly for the 288 per cent increase in the sports sector budget from ₦29 billion in 2024 to ₦113 billion in 2025.
Amadu said that the aim behind the distribution of the equipment is to empower communities with the tools need to foster talent, build discipline, and strengthen social ties through sports.
Amadu said that it will benefit 3,260 teams across the country as each state will receive between 80 to 120 sets of footballs and jerseys, distributed through the committee members and House leadership.
“Our goal is to build a sustainable sports ecosystem starting at the grassroots where champions are discovered, talents nurtured, and characters built.
“Investing in grassroots sports means investing in the dreams of our young people; sports have the power to transform lives, but for too long, focus has been on elite athletes, today we begin to change that narrative.
“These items are not just physical equipment, they are symbols of opportunity, empowerment, and national progress,” he said.
The chairman therefore urged all members to ensure the equipment reaches the intended beneficiaries, stressing that the impact will be measured not by quantity but by the lives transformed and talents discovered.
Also speaking, the Chairman, National Sports Commission (NSC), Shehu Dikko highlighted on the need to change Nigeria’s sports from being competition-driven to development-driven.
He said that the era where sports federations come to get money to participate in competitions must stop to focus on sport development.
He said that all that needed to done to guide the process, ensure necessary reforms and necessary legislations must be done.
Dikko said the aim is to make sport cleaner, more profitable and attractive to the private sector to complement efforts of government.
“The final outcome we expect is to make sports the driver of the economy, to create two to three million jobs annually and earn foreign exchange; we want to make sports an international asset that will bring social life together and make the country proud,” he said.
The NSC helmsman said that a bill that will restructure the entire sports ecosystem in the country was on the way to the house.
He explained that the bill seeks to create all the necessary agencies and development funds to run sport.
He called on all the members to support the bill when it finally comes to the floor of the house saying that it is the game changer of the Nigerian sports