The State of Nigerian University Sports

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the closing ceremony of the Nigeria Private University Games (NPUGA), hosted by Babcock University in Ilisan Remo, Ogun State. Attending competitions like this always offers me a chance to reflect on the state of Nigerian sports, particularly football.

My first thought was: Is the university sports ecosystem truly part of Nigeria's sports development plan? This question brought me back to an office debate I recently had about the need to institutionalize a university football tournament. I firmly believe that university footballers are often overlooked and left out of the national reckoning simply because they've chosen to pursue an education. Such a tournament could provide opportunities to develop coaches and create a scouting pathway for these student-athletes.

This initial thought was reinforced at the games. I didn't see any scouts or national delegates. I could be wrong, but the atmosphere felt fuzzy and disconnected from the professional sports world. As I watched the football final between eventual winners Lead City University and Bells' University, I found myself asking the same questions I always do at these matches: What's the game plan? What is the tactical setup of both teams?

It was no surprise the match ended 0-0 and went to penalties.

While I commend Babcock University for hosting the competition, the state of the sports facilities was both worrying and telling. As a private university, one would assume they have better access to funding than their government-owned counterparts, who must contend with politics and bureaucracy for funding. This made me wonder: What is the role of the Sports Director in our universities today? Has this role evolved with the rest of the world? This reflection led me to the tweet I posted, which is the cover of this piece.

The role of a Sports Director has gone far beyond being a professor of Human Kinetics or Physical Education. It now requires deep sports business knowledge, sports management skills, and most importantly, the ability to raise funding and explore different funding models for a school's sports program. Unfortunately, what still exists in both private and public universities is an outdated approach. While the dynamics of sports have changed globally, we remain in the Stone Age, with lecturers and professors who don't understand the vital role of a student-athlete in the university system. This is a time when the American college sports ecosystem, after years of struggle, is finally using NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) to help student-athletes become millionaires.

Too many questions popped into my head. Do these Sports Directors see their job as a comprehensive program, or do they just treat it like any other job? I concluded that perhaps this should be my next venture in sports, as I believe I would excel at it. However, the responses I received on Twitter made me reconsider, suggesting I might be naive about the political hurdles in the corridors of Nigerian universities.

A program that builds a robust, integrated funding model combining alumni networks and institutional funding to develop long-term sports infrastructure.

I've said many times before that if a university has a Horticulture department and its football pitch is in bad shape, that department should be scrapped by the NUC (Nigerian Universities Commission) immediately. There's no point in offering degrees in a course that the school cannot benefit from in clear, practical terms.

The way we think about and administer sports simply has to change. The old ways have not served us well. We have the most important ingredient—the talent—but our nurturing processes are outdated and stagnant. Of course, this won't happen overnight, but we must start somewhere. Our universities are a crucial pipeline for nurturing future athletes, and we cannot continue to ignore them just because they chose to get an education.

The system must create a bridge that reshapes the curriculum and gives them the freedom to do what they do best while bringing unbridled joy to the university community. I remember when the University of Maiduguri won the HIFL (Higher Education Football League) in 2022 and returned to a hero's welcome. This is what sports can do; we need to act right.

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