Lagos -A legal practitioner, Chijioke Okoli, on Wednesday canvassed for proper understanding and application of appropriate global sports law in the country.
Okoli in a lecture title “Sports Law and Practice in Nigeria Context’’, said that Nigeria needed to embrace global sports law to attain sports development.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Okoli delivered the lecture at the three days Annual Sports Industry Workshop, which is ongoing at Lagos Business School, Lagos.
“With the rate of globalisation and heavy commercialisation of the sports industry, it is ideal time for Nigeria to bridge the knowledge gap in the legal aspects of football as a sport,’’ Okoli said.
The former chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos branch, said that for the Nigerian league to move along with global growth there was need to involve legal practitioners in sports law.
“Sports, especially football contribute up to three per cent of world trade and it is seen as a form of entertainment and business all over the world.
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“However, there is no business that can exist without the knowledge and application of the law; this is where sports law comes into place.
“For the Nigerian football league to grow and align with other leagues there must be emphasis on adaptation of principles of contractual laws,’’ he said.
Okoli said that a sports lawyer must understand the basic principles and peculiarities of the domain in which sports business was carried out to render advice to clients properly.
“Contracts must be structured to take care of contingencies such as third party endorsement and solidarity payments.
“There must also be a good grasp of the media, international laws and different arms of law for sports.
“There are some peculiarities a sports lawyer must understand to render advice to clients properly,’’ he said.
Okoli said the Nigerian league must be structured in line with contemporary European leagues where every action was governed by principles of contracts from criminal law (match fixing), media law (broadcasting and televising) and international laws.
“When you look beyond televised matches, it is important to know that everything from sponsorship to the media is governed by different laws.
“Practitioners must have basic understanding of the laws and business of sports to bring about all round development of the Nigerian league.
“It is clear to state that you cannot look for a better globalisation example than football,’’ he said.
The workshop which is being attended by club mangers, sports administrators and journalist started on Tuesday and will end on Nov. 26. (NAN)