National Sports Commission Chairman Mallam Shehu Dikko has tasked industry experts on the need to harness Intellectual Property (IP) in the quest to drive home the sports economy agenda of the current administration.
Mallam Dikko took the opportunity of delivering a keynote address at the World Intellectual Property Day seminar powered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Nigeria office, at the United Nations House in Abuja, to further preach the Renewed Hope Initiative for Nigeria Sports Economy (RHINSE) gospel.
The theme for the day was ‘IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate’ while the NSC Chairman spoke under the topic ‘Intellectual Property and the Business of Sport in Nigeria.’
He said, “This theme speaks directly to the future of sports in Nigeria. For many years, we have spoken about sports mainly through the language of medals, trophies, passion and national pride. Those things remain important. They are the soul of sports. But today, sports has become much more than what happens on the field of play.
“Sports is now media rights. It is branding. It is sponsorship. It is merchandising. It is technology. It is data. It is content. It is athlete image. It is fan engagement. It is events, platforms, products and experiences.
“At the heart of all these is intellectual property. The central challenge before Nigeria is not whether we have sports talent, sports passion or sports audiences. We do. The real challenge is whether we can properly identify, protect, package and commercialise the intellectual property that sits behind our sports assets.”
In Mallam Dikko’s estimation, intellectual property is at the root of the sports economy.
He continued, “Under the leadership of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, the Nigerian sports sector is going through a major reset. The scrapping of the Federal Ministry of Sports Development and consequent re-establishment of the National Sports Commission was not merely an administrative change. It was a clear statement that sports must now be treated as a national economic asset.
“That is the thinking behind the National Sports Commission’s flagship policy framework, the Renewed Hope Initiative for Nigeria’s Sports Economy, which we commonly refer to as RHINSE. The goal is simple: to move sports from dependency to productivity; from public expenditure to investment; from isolated events to commercial assets; and from raw talent to structured economic value.
“But we cannot build a sustainable sports economy without intellectual property.A sports brand that is not protected can be used by others without reward. A competition that is not properly packaged will struggle to attract serious sponsorship. Broadcast rights that are not clearly owned and protected cannot command full value. An athlete who does not understand image rights may be celebrated publicly but exploited commercially. In simple terms, IP is what turns sports from activity into asset.”
The NSC Chairman buttressed the place of the Commission in protecting intellectual property. He opined that the nation has the the population, passion, clubs, Sports Federations, competitions, athletes, fans, broadcasters, creative professionals and a growing technology ecosystem, hence the need for a regulator who would provide the enablers for all these to thrive.
“This is where the National Sports Commission has an important role to play. Our role is not to replace the private sector. Our role is to create the enabling environment for the private sector to come in with confidence. We are regulators, facilitators and enablers. We must provide policy direction, governance standards, legal clarity, investment confidence and the right incentives for sports to grow as an industry”, he enthused.
While pointing out that sports had contributed over 1 per cent to the nation’s GDP in the past two quarters, with over 200,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs linked to sports during the period, he highlighted the place of intellectual property in sustaining the tempo of the sports economy.
He added, “Broadcast and media rights are among the strongest revenue pillars in the global sports industry. But media rights only have value when ownership is clear, licensing is structured, and enforcement is taken seriously. A league that cannot control its content cannot properly sell its content without leaving money on the table.
“The same applies to sports brands. Every club badge, Federation logo, event name, slogan, mascot, trophy design and official merchandise has commercial value. But if these assets are not registered and protected, others will benefit from them without returning value to sports.”
