Nigerian sports diplomacy as a foreign-policy pursuit: a soft-power review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47264/idea.lassij/9.1.3Keywords:
Sport Diplomacy, Foreign Policy, Nigerian Approach, Diplomatic Ties, Foreign Policy Tools, Interstate Conflicts, Foreign Investment, Trade RelationsAbstract
Following the 1896 revival of the Olympic Games, sports became a platform for political influence and national competition. The incorporation of sports into the state's political arena has improved the country's diplomatic ties abroad, even though the Nigerian foreign policy has remained centred on Africa. The main objective of this article is to examine Nigerian sports diplomacy as a tool for pursuing its foreign policy. However, more than 60 studies have been analysed to examine how sports are incorporated into state affairs and how they influence a nation's foreign policy efforts to further its interests. However, the reviewed studies revealed tremendous potential advantages that a country gains from hosting or participating in international sporting events. Successful nations in international football and Olympic events want to build their brands, resolve interstate conflicts, attract foreign investment, and foster trade between the host and other countries. The reviewed studies uncovered that a sector of such huge magnitudes that includes sports infrastructure and facilities could not be maintained by the government alone; instead, private-public partnerships had to be established to fund sporting events in the nation, in a move to counter Nigerian flawed sectorial policies, prevalent corruption, and ineptitudes terrorising the nation's sports engine.
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