President Bola Tinubu has approved the Board of the Nigeria Anti-Doping Agency, showing support for sports sector reforms, according to National Sports Commission (NSC) Chairman Malam Shehu Dikko.
He disclosed this to State House Correspondents after meeting the president at the State House, Abuja, establishing the context for Tinubu’s latest decision.
He said Tinubu had signed the Anti-Doping Bill into law after almost 20 years of delay.
“And now he has approved that the board of the Anti-Doping Agency of Nigeria should be constituted,” Dikko said.
He further explained that the board’s creation met a key requirement of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and strengthened Nigeria’s clean sport status, directly building on earlier efforts.
Continuing, Dikko said the visit aimed to brief the president on the achievements recorded in 2025 and to outline plans for 2026, highlighting a proactive approach in line with the agency’s constitution.
“Mr President is very happy, he’s very excited with the progress,” he said.
According to him, the commission won about 375 medals across sports in 2025.
He said the sector contributed 1.2 per cent to GDP in Q3 2025 and drew about N50 billion in private funding.
“Last year, we created almost 140,000 jobs, both direct, indirect, and induced,” Dikko said.
The NSC is executing the Renewed Hope initiative to make sports a major economic contributor.
Furthermore, Dikko said discussions with Tinubu also focused on fast-tracking sports infrastructure nationwide, in line with the Renewed Hope agenda.
On grassroots development, building on the focus of infrastructure and reforms, he said the commission had introduced Invited Junior Athletes at the National Sports Festival.
“We created what we call the Invited Junior Athletes as a 38th state,” he said.
He added that Intermediate Games for under-18 and under-20 athletes had been introduced. There is also collaboration with the Ministry of Education to revive school sports.
Dikko said the federations must demonstrate grassroots programmes before receiving support for international competitions.
“If you are not showing us what you are doing on the grassroots and the domestic scene, we can’t support you,” he said.
On Nigeria’s World Cup case, he said, the NSC and the Nigeria Football Federation had submitted reported breaches to FIFA.
“The relevant bodies of FIFA are dealing with it… ” We are confident we have a good case,” Dikko said.
He, however, said the commission was more focused on future competitions, including AFCON and WAFCON.
