The Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Sports (NIS), Philip Shaibu, says the future of the institution depends on a robust public-private partnership and a total structural reset to restore its founding vision.
Speaking during a reception organised in his honour on Tuesday night in Abuja by former colleagues from the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Shaibu said President Bola Tinubu gave him a clear mandate to reform and reposition the institute as a centre of excellence in sports education.
“My mandate by Mr. President is to carry out a total reform and reposition the NIS to its core responsibility of producing excellent coaches for Nigeria and Africa,” he stated.
Shaibu, a former Deputy Governor of Edo State and ex-House of Representatives member, lamented that the NIS had drifted from its original purpose, as evidenced by the dilapidated state of critical infrastructure including the stadium, indoor hall, tennis courts, and administrative blocks.
He stressed that these facilities must first be rehabilitated by the government and then handed over to the private sector for efficient management and growth.
“Government business now is to put these things right; once they are standardised, the private sector can then drive and achieve success,” he said.
Shaibu criticised the bureaucratic bottlenecks hindering sports development in Nigeria, arguing that sports must be run like a business to thrive.
“Sport does not need the government bureaucracies that we have presently. If we leave sports to government bureaucracy as it is today, we will simply keep lamenting,” he warned.
He cited the Super Falcons’ logistical ordeal returning from Morocco after their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations triumph as a case study of poor planning.
“We were looking for a private jet to bring our champions home — that is unacceptable,” he said.
Reflecting on his previous political roles, Shaibu said transparency and accountability were central to his leadership style. As a lawmaker, he said he was the first to publicly declare his N20 million constituency allocation, allowing constituents to determine its use.
“I did 13 constituency projects in just 18 months, while some members haven’t done that in eight years,” he noted.
Now as NIS DG, Shaibu pledged to bring the same zeal and experience, both as a multi-sport athlete and sports administrator, to his new assignment.
He revealed that within his first few weeks in office, he had embarked on broad consultations and developed a 10-year strategic roadmap to reform the NIS.
“What I’ve done in four to five weeks is to reach out to key stakeholders and produce a document I call ‘Roadmap’ — a 10-year strategic plan to reposition NIS.”
He said a 32-member committee had been inaugurated to review and fine-tune the plan, which includes:
Overhauling the curriculum
Phasing out obsolete courses
Introducing modern sports science and technology
“It’s like I’m resetting and restarting NIS from scratch, but with a clear direction so we don’t lose focus again,” Shaibu concluded.
