Enoh: Sports Ministry Plans to Bolster Investment in the Sector

Funmi Ogundare

The Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, yesterday stated that the administration is ready to boost investment in sports by inviting the private sector to invest in it.

Enoh, a guest on The Morning Show of ARISE News Channel, who spoke against the backdrop of the implementation of national sports industry policy, explained that his administration would put in place sets of incentives that will attract investment from the private sector.

According to him, “The inter-ministerial committee has been set up by the last administration and submitted a document that has to do with quite a number of incentives. One of the things that will be done is to get those set of incentives that has to do with different categories of investment to bolster the private sector.

“I have had a meeting with the President on that and it was a follow up on what the last administration had done, and it is a work in progress to get that done. After that is done, it is to have an engagement with the private sector, companies and interest groups that will be interested in finding and sponsoring investment in sports because of their experience and issues of lack of trust.”

Enoh expressed concern over the challenges of sport in the country, saying it has always been policies, will and commitment of the successive administration to get them implemented. He added that the President Bola Tinubu’s administration would implement the policy and bring it to the private sector.

The minister expressed optimism that after the incentives must have been granted to the investors, the policies would get Nigerians sensitised on what they stand to gain for the sake of the sports industry and the country as a whole.

Asked what the country can do to ensure that Nigeria’s football leagues are properly marketed, Enoh said: “As the minister, I have already started interrogating our football, especially the local league. We followed the fallout of Nigeria’s referees’ exclusion from Confederation of African Football (CAF) competitions.

“This is not the first time that that was happening. Nigeria is a big country, and we have started responding to it. We have had about two or three sessions. So we need to succeed by marketing the local leagues. It is huge!”

He emphasised on need to restore the credibility of the local leagues, adding that he looked forward to when people will get interested in watching the local football league by going to the stadium.

The minister said: “We need to get referees ahead of the match. Marketing is key, and at the moment, some publicity is being given to it which must continue. The ownership of clubs is also something that needs to be looked into.”

He expressed hope that with the implementation of the National Sports Industry Policy, and with the government responding appropriately and more players coming into the sector, local clubs will gradually evolve and transit government ownership so that private individuals can play a more frontal lead role in such ownership.

“The state government must be willing to allow some share of club ownership so as to turn around the local league. I have challenged the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). Nigerians are excited about our local teams, but one of the things that will help them is when players from the domestic leagues play in the national team. That  would become attractive to football followership to want to go to the stadium to watch matches,” the minister concluded.