Idowu: New 10-year Dev masterplan will catalyse sports growth pattern

Idowu

Football is a big business in the developed world, with immense contributions to national GDP. It is also positioned prominently to wage war against unemployment and social vices, which idleness and poverty promote.

In Europe, where the English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Spanish La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and French Lique 1 are heavy employers of labour, the management and promotion of football are carefully planned in such a way that the game always throws up fresh stars, who ensure that it never loses its appeal to its connoisseurs.

In Africa, North African countries including Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Libya, as well as sub-Saharan African countries like South Africa, Congo DR, Zambia, Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana have structured the sport in such a way that it not only serves as a good source of entertainment but also a big source of revenue for their economies.

However, that cannot be said of Nigeria, where the government still sees the game as a form of entertainment, with its administration fit for only political cronies.

In Nigeria, football, and indeed other sporting disciplines are used as “settlements” by party members and cronies, some of who don’t understand the intricacies of the sector and are therefore not equipped to handle it effectively.

For more than two decades, talented young men and women see going abroad to practice their sport as the only way of survival because they are better remunerated.

But things are about to change. Recently, the Federal Government endorsed a Football 10-Year Development Masterplan to change the way the game is structured and managed.

The master plan is the outcome of a 16-man committee set up by Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, to change the country’s