CEO Philip Shaibu Tells Why National Sports Institute Is Collaborating With NNPCL

The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for Sports (NIS), Philip Shaibu, has explained that the Institute’s collaboration with NNPC Limited is aimed at rebuilding Nigerian sports and restoring the NIS to its place as a world-class centre for sports development.

Shaibu, a former deputy governor of Edo State, said the partnership is being driven under the Petroleum to People Development (P2PD) initiative, which seeks to redirect national resources toward youth empowerment, human capital development and sustainable sports excellence.

He described the collaboration as more than a sponsorship arrangement, noting that it is a structured transformation guided by the Musa Kida–led NIS Transformation Report. According to him, the reform agenda is built on four pillars — revitalisation, rebuilding, rebranding and relaunching of the Institute.

The NIS boss said the goal of the partnership is to deliver modern infrastructure, international-standard training programmes, advanced sports science facilities and zonal centres across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones to ensure that talents can be discovered and nurtured anywhere in the country.

The director-general added that the long-term vision of the initiative is to produce more than 14,000 elite athletes and about 2,600 globally certified coaches over the next decade, a development he said would strengthen Nigeria’s sports ecosystem, create jobs and promote national unity through shared sporting excellence.

He said the collaboration aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which places young Nigerians at the centre of development and recognises sports as a powerful tool for unity, opportunity and global relevance.

Shaibu said the NIS-NNPCL partnership represents a shift from “petroleum to people” and from “potential to podiums”, declaring that the rebirth of Nigerian sports has begun.