₦airaland Forum

President Tinubu Approves Sports Funding Reform

In 2025, from individual champions in athletics and other sports, to our winning female football and basketball teams as well as the Super Eagles who despite their bronze medal at AFCON2025, captured our hearts, scores of athletes representing Nigeria made our nation proud.

Sports is one of our strongest brands as a nation. It unifies us, breaks all our fault lines, inspires belief, and builds a sense of community that cuts across age, language, ethnicity, religion, and social status.

Over the past year, Nigerian athletes in various disciplines carried our flag with courage and pride across Africa and the world with Nigeria cumulatively winning an unprecedented 373 medals across all sports in 2025. From grassroots competitions to continental and global stages, the evidence is clear that when talent is supported with structure and preparation, Nigeria delivers.

I commend the National Sports Commission for the progress and successes inspite of the challenges. I salute the leadership of the NSC under the chairmanship of Malam Shehu Dikko for driving the reform agenda towards the resetting, refocusing, and relaunching of the sports sector in alignment with the renewed hope agenda and shared prosperity vission of my administration.

Yet we must be honest. For too long, sports funding was slowed by bureaucracy, fragmented across institutions, and when funds are released, they come too late to support proper preparation and even participation. Likewise, no meaningful investment is made towards sports infrastructure development and maintenance that meets international benchmarks. That cycle undermined performance and placed our athletes at a disadvantage. This must change.

I have therefore approved and directed the relevant ministries of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning and the Budget Office of the Federation for the resetting of sports funding to ensure that henceforth as from the 2026 fiscal year adequate provisions for sporting Infrastructure development, maintenance, sporting activities, programs, events and participation in international competitions are made annually in the national budget, and that all Funds so appropriated are released immediately once the budget is passed and assented to. Nigerian athletes deserve certainty, not excuses.

In addition, allocations for sporting activities currently spread across MDAs will be reviewed, restructured and streamlined, with the savings transferred into a unified funding framework under the National Sports Commission to strengthen domestic programs and international sports participation.

These reforms are anchored on the Renewed Hope Initiative for Nigeria’s Sports Economy, RHINSE, which positions sports as a driver for job creation, tourism, investment, and global influence. In addition, through scientific elite athlete development, active grassroots participation, revitalised federations, and the hosting of major international events at home, we are building a sports ecosystem that works.

Indeed, sports is our national asset and thus must be administered, managed, and funded in alignment with its special nature and demands devoid of any bureaucratic bottlenecks.

The future of Nigerian sports will be planned, properly funded, and competitive. We will support our athletes early, prepare them thoroughly, and celebrate them proudly.

Nigeria will continue to win, with pride.

~ Bola Ahmed Tinubu
President

source

Another good move by president Tinubu

Like it or leave it, Mr president he’s doing great work.

Hopefully, the review will be objective and the reforms that comes out of it, positive.

good move.Also other sectors should be reformed too.

Anyway, Agriculture is life

orikoku:
Like it or leave it, Mr president he’s doing great work.

ur papa .. how does this affect life , how does this affect the poor , the hungry ? What's ur definition of government ?

This is needed!

Na every time they are owing players or coach!

Politicians have a gift of smooth talking, hope reviving with d intention of doing practically nothing or little. If u don't have this gift of a dead conscience, don't enter

The most important thing is that the money gets to the right channels in revamping the sport industry

I pray it won't be mismanaged and embezzled from centre. Because anything that worked and effective in other climes, must fail woefully, wen it's time for zoo to implement it.

orikoku:
Like it or leave it, Mr president he’s doing great work.

Yes he is, but seems so microscopix majority of Nigerians just can't see it

Agricmoney:
good move.Also other sectors should be reformed too.

Anyway, Agriculture is life

Does this look like reformation. This is just pumping money from the center into bureaucratic baskets. Only drops of the funding will get to who it was intended for.
A huge ball of joke

orikoku:
Like it or leave it, Mr president he’s doing great work.

If i insult you nah, dem go ban me.

To beat you dey hungry me

Funding only of paper but they refuse to pay the super eagles their pay check while in Morocco

Anything money, i trust Jagaban for that one, na money making machine. Na God do am for am.

bewisemasses:
Does this look like reformation. This is just pumping money from the center into bureaucratic baskets. Only drops of the funding will get to who it was intended for.
A huge ball of joke

I have therefore approved and directed the relevant ministries of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning and the Budget Office of the Federation for the resetting of sports funding to ensure that henceforth as from the 2026 fiscal year adequate provisions for sporting Infrastructure development, maintenance, sporting activities, programs, events and participation in international competitions are made annually in the national budget, and that all Funds so appropriated are released immediately once the budget is passed and assented to. Nigerian athletes deserve certainty, not excuses.

In addition, allocations for sporting activities currently spread across MDAs will be reviewed, restructured and streamlined, with the savings transferred into a unified funding framework under the National Sports Commission to strengthen domestic programs and international sports participation.



Kindly give a superior alternative or solution.

Michaelkelvin1:
ur papa .. how does this affect life , how does this affect the poor , the hungry ? What's ur definition of government ?

Ur mama, there are poor people around the world not only in Nigeria, work hard to make life easy for you. Lazy bone. I don't know why we want everything for free. Ole

When you are wretched n chose to stay wretched a lot of govt policies will not affect you. You do not blame anyone but yourself for that.

Michaelkelvin1:
ur papa .. how does this affect life , how does this affect the poor , the hungry ? What's ur definition of government ?

Nigeria should establish a national lottery operated by a trusted, privately run and fully accountable firm.
50% of proceeds would go to lottery winners, 25% would be ring-fenced for sports development (serving as counterpart funding), and the remaining 25% would be allocated to clearly defined public-interest causes like orphanages, widows and children of servicemen who died in duty, grassroots sport complex, education, etc.

Must everything be about the poor alone?
C'mon if the poor should take advantage of these policies, they'll leave their status.
All these industries employ people too.

Michaelkelvin1:
ur papa .. how does this affect life , how does this affect the poor , the hungry ? What's ur definition of government ?

Michaelkelvin1:
ur papa .. how does this affect life , how does this affect the poor , the hungry ? What's ur definition of government ?

Make the poor go work and stop complaining. Nothing dem do for this country na the poor go complain pass.

Michaelkelvin1:
ur papa .. how does this affect life , how does this affect the poor , the hungry ? What's ur definition of government ?

Read your comments again. Hatred has taken away your intelligence. Nawa for you o

Yeye country that does not even have good sport facilities shame to Nigeria

God go still punish una!!
Una never see anything

poweredcom:
Yeye country that does not even have good sport facilities shame to Nigeria

..abi.
Money that will be looted and embezzled...the money federal government that have been giving to the ministry of finance, ministry of sports, NFF to give to the football players, athletics and for sports development in which the Nigeria footballers, athletics have been complaining of not being paid and owed arrears of allowances what has the federal government done nothing..Amaju pinnick former NFF president is still moving around freely enjoying his loot

Michaelkelvin1:
ur papa .. how does this affect life , how does this affect the poor , the hungry ? What's ur definition of government ?

Any progressive move you will always condemn.
Mind you, in every society the poor will always remain poor because it's there choice, when people like you give birth to 4 children without adequate plan on how to take care of them but you blame the government for your recklessness..
Dey Play, when we get there you go understand

Centralising sports funding under the NSC makes sense, but transparency and strict monitoring will determine whether this becomes a success or another missed opportunity

It is a welcome development. But, one area I am not comfortable with is the area of taking off sporting activities from the MDAs, I think it is a wrong one, because fitness activities of civil servants should be very paramount. As they saying goes "a healthy workforce is a healthy nation". MDAs can not run to the National Sports Commission for approval to engage fitness activities.