Ever wondered why some countries win medals while others do not? Neither do they have the ability to win medals if they participate in sports event such as the Olympics? In developing countries, there are a number of economic concerns regarding sports. Arguments are made that a country’s performance in sports (Olympics) is relative to its economic resources, and that achievements in sport should be measured in terms of a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and investment in sport.

A well-organized sport development structure and a high level of funding can propel a country to the top of the medal table. Population is likewise salient, and with 1.4 billion people, China was well represented at the 2020 Olympic medal table, with a total of 88 medals won, trailing only the United States of America which had 113 medals won, a country with more than 300 million people.

Stylized facts on Sport and Economic Development

The three strongest markers of sports development in any economy are the degree of investment, the extent of population participation, and the level of political stability that exists. High investment correlates positively with buoyant economy, which has a knock-on effect on the amount of leisure time utilized. With more leisure hours, a larger proportion of the population can indulge in sports. Developed economies make significant investments in sport facilities, coaching skills, and sports science support programs, all of which are essential for sport sustainability. Sport investment can be an effective stimulus for developing the quality and quantity of sporting activities especially at the international level.

Figure 1 shows a positive correlation existing between political stability and the 2020 Olympic medal table. There is a clear disparity in the number of medals won between countries with stable political systems and those battling political instability.

Figure 1: Political Stability and 2020 Olympics Medal Won

Source: World Governance Indicators 2020 & International Olympic Committee 2021

Figure 2: Population and 2020 Olympics Medal Won

Source: Worldometers 2021 & International Olympic Committee 2021
 

Figure 2 also shows that population matter for the number of medals won. However, we note that this is secondary, as countries like New Zealand and Australia  do well in the Olympics despite  their relatively smaller population. Large population size, on the other hand, is not a sufficient prerequisite for sport development. Figure 2 however supports the hypothesis that the larger the population, the more athletes with different physical qualities and skills.

Another notable factor is investment, investment in sport clearly plays an important role in some athletic activities than in others. Games like rowing, cycling, golf, shooting, sailing and equestrian require exclusive equipment and amenities; Nigeria have never won medals at any of these sports. Even in less expensive sports, there is a huge inequality in access to coaching and training facilities. A survey in developing countries by UNESCO in 1995, referred to in Manzenreiter (2007), found that 16 of the least developed countries had an average of just 71 football pitches, 31 volleyball courts, 13 athletics tracks and 3 swimming pools per country. In recent times, the African continent has in total, 141 constructed Soccer stadiums and about 78 volleyball courts. The combination effect of investment in sport and human capital, political stability, and high population participation rate are necessary and sufficient for sport development.

Nigeria and Olympics

Nigeria officially competed in the Olympic Games in Helsinki 1952 and has since sent representatives to every Summer Olympic Games, apart from the 1976 Summer Olympics, which was boycotted. Nigeria has won 27 Olympic medals in total, including 3 gold, 10 silver and 14 bronze. The majority of the medals come in athletics and boxing. Nigeria achieved her finest result to date in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, when the Dream Team football team were decorated with gold and Chioma Ajunwa won gold in the athletics division. Nigeria’s second best performance was in the 2008 Beijing Olympics where the men’s football team won a silver medal and Blessing Okagbare, an athlete won a silver medal.

Figure 3: Nigeria’s Olympics Performance

Since then, Nigeria's games have been on a downhill spiral. Lamentably, neither the men's nor women's football teams qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was compounded by the disqualification of ten athletes.

Socio-economic benefits of Sport

Sports impact on the Nigerian economy may be evaluated in terms of its contribution to GDP, employment, and the indirect multiplier effect on improving public health, reducing  crime rates, and supporting other sectors.

Sport is now a significant aspect of vast entrepreneurial activities, providing on the one hand, job creation for many in the various components of sport, and on the other hand, income and revenues to individuals and governments respectively. Currently, assessing the impact of sport on Nigeria's GDP is challenging because  sport is not one of  the key sectors considered  by statisticians when estimating GDP. However, the sector is computed as part of the entertainment and recreation sector, which contributed 0.19, 0.31, and 0.33 percent to the Nigerian GDP in 2019, 2020, and 2021 respectively. Sport contribution remains below one percent due to inadequate finance and investment.

Sport also helps to improve  fundamental social and interpersonal skills, which aids  in crime reduction and building national unity. Football tournaments, for instance, are regarded as one of the few events in Nigeria that have fostered a sense of national cohesion among the country’s  heterogeneous population. In addition, sport provides an important platform for youths to develop life skills that will enable them to cope better with everyday life challenges and transition away from drug abuse, violence, and crime. Sport can be utilized as a medium to advocate for sustainable human rights, such as the right to social security and equality across gender and race.

Strategies to support sport development in Nigeria 

Clearly, finance is the major constraint to sport development in Nigeria. There is a need to support national sporting bodies to implement targeted fund-raising programs and prioritize the allocation of resources for sport.

Furthermore, the Nigerian government should strive to implement a comprehensive sports policy that includes encouraging participation in all sporting activities in primary, secondary, and tertiary educational institutions as well as promoting local sports development. There is a need to boost private investors' confidence in the industry so they can fully participate in the business aspect of sports. These will help make the sports sector more appealing for the youth to pursue as a career and profitable for businesses.

With the explosion in digital technologies and data, countries across are grappling with effective ways to address the threats emerging in the digital space as well as provide supportive structure for digital technologies uptake. At present, at least 66 percent of countries in the world has at least a form of data protection laws. By data governance, we mean the processes and laws available in managing the availability, usability, integrity, and security of the data in the digital economy. African continent is not left out in the emerging structure with also proliferation of data governance and policies. However, UNCTAD report in 2020 noted that African region has the lowest adoption rate of the new technology and data protection laws.

CSEA has collected vast dataset to dive deep into the scope and coverage of digital development and evolution of data governance principles in Africa. This is under our project - Strengthening Data Governance in Africa. The Digital Governance Index was designed to evaluate Africa's level of digital development. The Index covers 54 African economies and is derived utilizing 21 dimensions to assess performance across three indicators

We performed detailed analytics (click here) on cross-country performance in these indicators.

The index is expected to be an indicator for assessing African’s digital evolution and uptake. This will help to pinpoint early and late adopters of the digital space as well as their pace. With awareness of the Digital Governance Index, governments and key stakeholders can adapt and integrate policy initiatives to strengthen requisite skills, provide efficient and inclusive digital services to all; bridge digital divides to order to fulfill the principle of leaving nothing behind while fostering economic development. Digital Governance Index will provide policymakers at national and regional level with information to support decision on digitalization policies.

Data governance remains a difficult concept to unpack even as efforts to understand what good data governance looks like have recently multiplied across the world. CSEA is leading a number of research activities aimed at clarifying what data governance means for the continent and what should be done to set up governance frameworks in African countries. These include a recent event on African data governance (recording available here), a project and subsequent report on Strengthening Data Governance in Africa, and the African Digital Preparedness dashboard.

The Data Values Project spoke with CSEA Director of Research Dr. Adedeji Adeniran to learn about the current state of thinking on this topic and research priorities and needs for the coming years:

Read More

Nigeria—the largest economy in Africa—signed the AfCFTA on July 7, 2019, becoming the 34th member of the trading bloc. Under the AfCFTA, Nigeria stands to gain from increased access to cheaper goods and services from other African countries, as its intra-African trade is currently low: Indeed, as of 2018, Nigeria’s imports from the African region relative to total imports was at 3.2 percent while the share of Nigeria’s exports to the African region relative to total exports was 13.2 percent. Moreover, in 2020, Nigeria’s main trading partner was actually China.

Read more

The Nigerian health system has suffered several setbacks. It is vastly under-resourced in terms of personnel and medical infrastructure. While this is a widespread problem, conditions in rural areas are often far worse compared to urban ones. Nigeria’s poor health system has resulted in penurious outcomes, prompting stakeholders to call for immediate government intervention. Yet, the government’s health expenditure is still significantly lower than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation of 15% of the annual budget.

Over the decades, the migration of medical doctors from Nigeria has increased. The NOI Poll in 2018 revealed that 88% of doctors in Nigeria were seeking employment abroad. Furthermore, between 2015 and 2021, about 4,528 Nigerian-trained doctors have migrated to the United Kingdom (UK). Even with the pandemic and existing health burdens in Nigeria, doctor’s migration has increased. This worrying trend exacerbates an already deteriorating health system. And it is unlikely to stop, as Nigerian doctors continue to seek better working conditions abroad.

Health Personnel Shortage and Migration

A WHO report revealed that Nigeria has a Doctor-Patient ratio of 4 doctors per 10,000 patients and five hospital beds per 10,000 patients.

With over 200 million people, it would take about 25 years to produce enough doctors to cater to the population, asserts the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA). This dire situation can only lead to poor health outcomes. High child and maternal mortality rates are preventable if doctors are readily available. The link between the number of physicians and mortality rates has been documented in the literature, reflecting the negative consequences of doctor shortages in Nigeria.

The primary reason for the large number of medical doctors emigrating each year is the lack of adequate funding in the sector. The 2021 health expenditure accounted for only 7% of the total budget. It is less than the 15% agreed on by African leaders and the WHO in 2001.

According to the NMA, approximately 2000 doctors leave the country each year. The average number of doctors trained in Nigeria and currently practising in the United Kingdom (UK) increased significantly between July 2020 and May 2021 – ranking Nigerian doctors the third highest in the UK.

In 2020 the highest monthly earnings of a Nigerian doctor were about USD 1,365. In Sierra Leone, a doctor earns up to USD 2,000, while doctors in the UK, United States, and Saudi Arabia earn up to ten times what doctors earn in Nigeria. It automatically increases the appeal of emigrating to these countries. Further, the lack of equipment in hospitals in Nigeria and poor working conditions mean that the opportunity cost of emigration is significantly low.

Read More