Finance Minister heads 10-man sports business committee

The Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, will be heading a 10-man National Sports as Business Policy Technical Committee inaugurated by the Federal Government. The committee which was inaugurated by the Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare, is tasked to develop the details of the incentives that will be included in the National Sports as […]

The Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, will be heading a 10-man National Sports as Business Policy Technical Committee inaugurated by the Federal Government.

The committee which was inaugurated by the Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare, is tasked to develop the details of the incentives that will be included in the National Sports as Business Policy as well as developing the modalities for the country’s successful transition of sports from recreation to business.

It will be recalled that the first ever National Sports Industry Policy, was approved by the President in Council on November 2, 2022 and is aimed at transitioning sports in Nigeria from recreation to business.

“For over 3 years now, the Ministry has been at work reviewing past sports policies and also dealing with the weaknesses therein. The major weakness was that sports was just categorized as recreation and service, it was not a business and therefore placed financial burden on the Federal government”.

Dare who explained that investment, incentives and infrastructure are the three things that drive sports as business, funded both by government and private sector, added that the policy is in line with the orientation of government which under the current National Development Plan 2021 to 2025 is based on 70% of funds from the private sector and 30% from government with rebate on tax.

Responding on behalf of the Committee, the representative of the Federal Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Dr Ladan Haruna, assured that the Committee will bring their wealth of experience to bear in ensuring the success of the policy.