I commend Babatunde Fashola, a former Governor and former Minister, for his advocacy of a sports-driven economic model for Nigeria.
Speaking at a book presentation, Fashola said Nigeria’s policymakers had “ignored a solution hiding in plain sight” by failing to fully develop sports as a business and an untapped solution to the country’s youth unemployment crisis.
He explored how sports, if explicitly integrated into national development plans, can become a catalyst for national development, economic growth, job creation, and youth empowerment.
For this model to work, he stressed the need for such measures as grassroots initiatives to identify and nurture talent, encouragement of private sector investment, the development of skilled manpower, and overhauling sports infrastructure, including integrating stadiums into public transport systems.
Fashola’s idea is not completely new, as some writers and editorialists have made similar arguments in the past. It is the first time, however, that someone with his pedigree and the potential to drive the matter has publicly and loudly enlisted himself.
Among his proposals, the former Minister wants building and remodeling of Nigerian stadiums into multi-purpose facilities for sports, concerts, meetings, retail outlets, spas, and kids’ play areas, to permit the attraction of a wider patronage of spectators and families.
Hopefully, Fashola will not stop at this single speech. Luckily for Nigeria, he is a leading member of the ruling party and exceedingly close to the government.
Most of all, he knows why Nigeria does not work. To ensure that his pivotal idea takes root, I urge him to constitute a small pressure group consisting of interested members of the private sector and and civil society.
He should take advantage of the mass media, including the growing army of online sportswriters and social media content creators who stand to benefit immensely should this economic model be adopted, to prepare project planning and relevant documentation and consultancy that government officials will find to be irresistible.
Speaking of armies, there is a legion of federal legislators that is awash with so-called constituency funds in their hands that could be pivotal at the grassroots. It is remarkable that in 20 years of collecting these vast sums of money, not one legislator has built a public tennis court, for instance, or instituted a local competition in any sport.
It is time.
On to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike: Exactly two months ago this week, President Bola Tinubu took a fascinating decision: to probe Wike, his Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and one of his most politically important.
Mr. Wike, a former state governor, is not just a member of Mr. Tinubu’s cabinet: he is a key ally and friend who is effectively helping to keep his own PDP divided and weak in the interest of Mr. Tinubu, as well as maintaining the president’s hopes of winning the FCT in 2027, a feat he failed to achieve in 2023.
Tinubu’s alleged probe decision followed a stunning, well-sourced story by the Peoples Gazette on June 26 of Wike brazenly allocating to Joaquim, his son, some 40,000 plots of land in various parts of the FCT
“Officials estimated that the hectares Mr. Wike has issued to his son, along with certificates of occupancy, are worth at least $3.6 billion,” the report said. “A plot in Maitama and Asokoro, where Mr. Wike gave his son at least seven hectares total, was recently sold for $1.28 and $1.4 million.”
Minister Wike denied the allegations, claiming that the allocations were made to a business, Joaq Farms and Estates Ltd, but failed to disclose that the business belonged to Joaquim. Joaq Farms, it turned out, was registered only on October 10, 2024; on October 17, Minister Wike did not hesitate to allocate 350 hectares to it.
Nonetheless, the presidency appeared to have been sufficiently concerned to try to head off public outrage, but with a closely-controlled probe to be handled by the office of the SGF. “The president agreed that the minister’s activity as reported in the media was suspicious and ordered a probe to determine if he had illegally enriched himself,” a presidential aide said.
But Wike was not done. Just weeks later, another story broke that he had personally signed 33 approvals for his family and friends.
“Among the beneficiaries were his father, Joshua Nlemanya Wike, who got a piece in Guzape II,” The Gazette reported, adding that the 90-year-old was allocated 1,042 square metres worth N400 million.
“Other family members whose allocations were signed by Mr Wike on July 16, based on the list drawn on July 4, include Believe Wike, paternal cousin; Victor Wike, nephew; Henry Wike, nephew; and Primise Wike, cousin. All the 33 names were from Mr Wike’s home Rivers State, including eight family members of James Hunwo, who received individual allocations on that day.”
And then last week, West Africa Weekly, reported that in March 2025, Wike secretly acquired a $2 million Florida mansion. Citing public US records, it said that he registered the property in the names of his children: Joaquin, Jazmyne, and Jordan, and his wife, Justice Eberechi Wike of the Nigerian judiciary, who is illegally also a registered member of the U.S. Democratic Party.
These are weighty issues and President Tinubu, if he hopes to win a speck of respect in this matter, ought to take the investigation out of the hands of the SGF, to whom Wike is a colleague in the executive branch, and hand it to an independent investigator or at least an established anti-graft body.
Yes, we should grant him the opportunity to defend himself, but he clearly appears to have been swimming lavishly in the sewers, taking his young children with him. If we do not wish to become dirtier following the investigation than before it began, it must be seen to be a fair and thorough process.
The question is whether, in an era in which charlatans, crooks, and criminals are on the ascendancy in Nigerian politics, seeking such a process makes sense. If impunity had an image, it most probably looks like Wike, but what does the colour of courage look like: Tinubu?
Tinubu has been described as ruthless, but does Nigeria mean so much to him that, if found culpable, he will cut Wike adrift, knowing that the former governor and relentless singer of his praise, “On your (Jagaban) mandate we shall stand,” would be jail-bound and that Wike is no stranger to ruthlessness himself?
In June 2023, I argued that Nigeria was “scrubbing out character.” Maybe this is what that spectre looks like. Keep in mind that we do not know where else Wike has been, or how many Wikes there are in this jungle.
