According to Statista, a global data and business inteligence platform, The global sports industry revenue was forecast to grow in the coming years. In 2022, the industry’s revenue amounted to over 403 billion U.S. dollars and was expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.13 percent between 2022 and 2028. By 2028, the global sports market was expected to be worth over 680 billion U.S. dollars. This massive industry includes the people, activities, and ORGANIZATIONS that are involved with PRODUCING, facilitating, or organizing sports activities” (emphasis mine).

It is a sad commentary in itself that Nigeria, as large as she is, with a buzzing and energetic youth population is not taking advantage of this enormous industry to produce, develop and empower her youths most of whom are both very brilliant and talented. All they need is an environment where their talents can be professionally honed while also acquiring university education in the process.

This is why the idea of a sports university as proposed by Senator Akobundu, Senator representing Abia Central at the National Assembly, is very timely, important and significant.

One often hears of how Nigerians lament our poor performances at world sporting events like the Olympics while hailing and comparing us with such other high performing countries like China and the USA. In doing so, they often neglect the critical factors that propel these other countries to the olympian height of sports, factors that are clearly absent in our clime.

For example, China and the US have several Sports Universities between them that help produce some of the countries’ best talents in a formal academic environment. Some of the sports universities in China include: Beijing Sport University, Tianjin University of Sport, Guangzhou University of Sport, Wuhan Sports University among others. Some of the sports universities in the USA are the United States Sports Academy, Alabama, which prides itself as America’s Sports University, and the American Sports University California.

Just like in China and the US, there are many of our talented youths today who are forced to study other courses in the university because of the absence of such a sports university where they could nurture and further develop their talents in a proper academic environment. The Senator Akobundu’s proposed sports university will address that issue. And being arguably the only such unversity in Nigeria and West Africa in particular and Africa in general, Nsulu, the community where the university is proposed to be sited, is about to be a beehive of activities as it prepares to welcome students from all over Africa thereby boosting the economic activities of the area and Abia State in particular and that of the country in general.

The other socioeconomic advantages of such a federal institution sited in Abia is the creation of job opportunities for the people; attracting of MSMEs around the area, the promotion of trade and commerce and other investment opportunities for citizens.

Contrary to the fears of some that the proposed university will be limited in the courses it offers, the Beijing Sport University in China, for example, offers such other courses as Education, English, Journalism, Marketing, New Media, Applied Psychology, Public Management and Tourism Management while the America’s Sports University even offers Business Administration. Others offer Sports Medicine, Clinical Medicine, Communications, Economics among others. That of Abia State can even offer those and more. So, in all ramifications, the proposed sports university by Senator Austin Akobundu is a plus for Abia and Nigeria.

There is no better time to revive and retake our pride of place in the global sports industry and help our youths have their own fair share of the humongous global multi-billion dollars sports industry through a university system that has propelled China, USA and such other countries to the top of the industry.

Let the Federal University of Sports, Nsulu, Nigeria, be that gateway Nigerian and African youths can take to get there.

Kudos to Senator Austin Akobundu for conceiving this noble idea and pushing it on at the Senate. With everyone’s support for it, Nigeria is about to become the hub of sports education in Africa for our new generation, and Abia is in the forefront of it.