Abuja – Mr William Iheanacho, the Chairman, Buy-Naija Project, an NGO, on Saturday solicited partnership with the National Sports Commission (NSC) to develop a template that would boost local patronage of sports.
Iheanacho, who spoke when a delegation from Buy-Naija Project visited the commission in Abuja, said that the partnership was to assist the commission source for sponsors for its programmes.
The NGO boss said the current state of sports in Nigeria could be better if citizens improved on patronage of sporting events.
Iheanacho, who said that stadia in the past were always full during sporting events, expressed dismay with the current focus on foreign leagues.
“ Life on earth is all about industry, trade, investment and consumption pattern. It is the consumption pattern of a people that determines the socio-economic prosperity of any society.
“Therefore, if Nigerians do not patronise and consume our sports activities, Nigerian sports cannot prosper. If Nigerians do not invest and sponsor sports there will be no growth in sports.
“If Nigerians do not trade in sports, there would be no growth and if we do not engage in the industrial production value chain of sports, then all is lost,’’ he said.
Iheanacho said that the partnership with the commission would drive local trade and commerce in sports value chain using specially developed Empowered for Life Project Hope Entrepreneurship Templates.
In his response, the Director General of the NSC, Al-Hassan Yakmut, said the sports sector had been under estimated and under valued commercially.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
He said the sports apparel market globally was worth 800 billion dollars and no percentage comes to Nigeria as consumers of sports apparel.
Yakmut said that while there was no known sports apparel factory in Nigeria, all the raw materials needed were available in the geo-political zones.
“The top of the canvas or boot is either skin or cotton which we have in the North while the sole is from petrochemical which we have in the South South.
“What we don’t have in Nigeria is the machinery and technology. If we have the machinery and technology on ground, we already have market for canvas and boot,” he said.
Yakmut said if the sports apparel potential was fully explored, it would go a long way in rebasing the Nigerian economy. (NAN)