The chief executive officer of Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Dr Tayo Aduloju has forwarded a suggestion that sports federations, ministries and organisers in the country should stage music concerts as part of their activities for major competitions.
Aduloju, who was one of the key speakers at the recent Sports Africa Investment Summit in Lagos, also reckoned that Nigeria needs to develop a vibrant sports industry that would be both attractive and lucrative, hence his suggestion of fusing performances by entertainers into sports events.
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While charging officials of the National Sports Commission (NSC) to take the sector into bussiness levels, Aduloju also urged them to develop modern ideas, like what is seen in the United States of America and many European countries.
Apart from stressing that music is a strong tool that should be used to enhance the bussiness side of sports, Aduloju also pointed out that centres of excellence are needed in order to boost the discovery and development of hidden talents.
He stated further in an exclusive interview with Sports247: “Centres of excellence allow you to recruit talents and train them in various venues. That way, you develop athletes for the future and it helps you to bid for hosting international competitions that can be staged at the centres of excellence. As you connect the dots, sports as an industry begins to grow.
“As we look into that aspect, the federations also need to shift from operating sports for competitions outside the country, and move to something of developing an industry within the country. You need that in place for you to become really competitive.”
Aduloju went on to outline the next approach he expects the NSC to embark on in order to ensure that all ideas and suggestions raised during the summit do not fly away with the wind.
He declared pointedly, “The most important thing is to crystallise all these recommendations into a type of playbook on investment. So that, long after this summit, the sports commission reflects on it and builds it into a strategy for the next two to three years, in order to upscale sports as an industry in Nigeria. They should quickly identify the initial investment opportunities that we can promote. You have to begin where you are to reach where you are going.
“There are some sports infrastructure in Nigeria that are ready for investment or that can be made ready for investment, as the case may be. How can we then get these things in place where they are needed? We need to start driving competitive investment and build a vibrant sports industry in Nigeria.”
Aduloju then came up with a strong suggestion about the introduction of music and entertainment to drive a revitalised sports industry in Nigeria, based on a new ecosystem that takes into consideration proper management of commercial and business angles.
“Collaboration in sports is needed, because its impact is not different from what we see in music and entertainment. For instance, there is no NFL Super Bowl in America that does not plan for breaktime music. That’s 15 minutes to bring Beyonce, Jay Z or some other superstar in to perform. They all do it. So, let’s take our learnings from what already exists.
“Sports and entertainment actually fuse together. That’s one way to build a really strong sports industry. People who plan to watch the Super Bowl also expect to enjoy some good music by an A-list performer. Nothing stops us from doing the same here in Nigeria. We have the demand and factor conditions, we only have to make them work together.
“In the United States, many sports events are fused with concerts in the middle of them. So, the combination of sports and music is like gold. We should also do it in Nigeria, because our people love sports and they love music,” Aduloju stressed.
