The Big Sport Dialogue 1.0,a convergence of Nigeria’s brightest sports administrators, industry leaders and sporting media has been scheduled to hold on November 14, 2025 in Lagos to proffer solutions to why the country’s sports sector has not been able to reach its full potentials.

Amongst the eminent sports personalities expected to champion the reforms include: former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola; Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Malam Shehu Dikko; Amaju Pinnick, a former FIFA Council Member, now Deputy Chairperson of FIFA Men’s National  Teams Competitions Committee; Director General of the NSC, Bukola Olopade amongst several other sports personalities.

Speaking in Lagos yesterday at a media briefing to herald the ceremony,  Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Dialogue, Osaze Ebueku, revealed that part of the mission of this movement is to reposition Nigeria’s sports so that, the sector,  can be able to perform beyond contributing less than 0.31 per cent to our country’s GDP.”

The sports stakeholder with varied interests in the sector, insisted that with the new energy that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has accorded sports, there “is the need to revamp the sector  to meet the expectations of all Nigerians.”

Osaze insisted that removing sports from the bottlenecks associated with ministry set up to a sports commission, has showed the roadmap for a brighter future .

“The President matched promise with action by departing from previous appointments of people who come to the sector to learn. “President Tinubu has given us Malam Shehu Dikko as Chairman of the National Sports Commission while also appointing Chief Bukola Olopade as Director General of the Commission. These are two eminently qualified personalities with background in sports development to manage the new direction.”

Osaze stressed that Big Sport Dialogue 1.0 will also be a departure from previous sports summits whose recommendations were left to rot in the archives.

“Already, major stakeholders like the Federal Government as represented by the National Sports Commission; Corporate players in Nigerian sports as well as the sporting media will all be involved in this new narratives of fashioning a new direction for the country’s sports. We want to break the circle of Nigerian sports not able to achieve the same heights reached by the country’s music.

“It is a movement, not just a conference. This renewed hope must unlock the untapped potentials inherent in sports. It will be an opportunity for investors to meet with administrators and athletes to fashion the blueprint to help Nigeria get to the promised land of sports boom”.

It was the opinion of this avid golfer also into sports sponsorship that a sector that binds the country as one as well as have the potentials for revenue generation and  job opportunities not be left untapped.