What You Need To Know About Newly Appointed National Sports Commission Chairman, Shehu Dikko

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday appointed Shehu Dikko as the Chairman of the National Sports Commission.

Naija News reports that the appointment follows Tinubu’s decision to scrap the Ministry of Sports Development and had its functions transferred to the National Sports Commission in order to develop a vibrant sports economy.

The Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, was redeployed as the Minister of State for Trade and Investment.

Dikko, the Kaduna State-born football administrator, was the Chairman of the League Management Company responsible for the management of the Nigerian Professional Football League.

He previously served as a consultant for the Nigerian House of Representatives on Sports committee.

Dikko contested for the President of the Nigeria Football Federation in 2022, but later stepped down for Ibrahim Gusau who emerged victorious.

He has also been actively involved in the administration and management of football at grassroots, state, national and international levels over the last 20 years.

He is believed to have garnered a wealth of experience working closely and understudying several top-level decision makers globally.

Before his foray into football administration, Dikko had a stint in the private sector from 1991 to 2004. He worked at eRP/Design Cost Associate Limited as a senior project manager from 1991 to 1997. He then moved to Inter-Projects Associate Limited as owner/Managing Partner; a position he is said to hold till date. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of Deanshanger Project Limited, a project development, finance, investment and management company.

In 2004, when he went into football administration, he started as the FIFA Goal Project Manager (Nigeria), organising several club tours between Portsmouth FC and Manchester United (both in England), alongside Kano Pillars FC (Nigeria). In 2008, he was hired as a consultant to the sports committee of the Nigerian House of Representatives, where he served till 2011. While he was consulting for the government, he assisted in drafting the National Sports Commission bill.

He was later appointed as the secretary of the Super Eagles Bonus Row and Code of Conduct Drafting Committee from 2012 to 2013.

He took his first shot at the NFF Presidency in September 2014, but later withdrew his candidacy before the election was officially held.

His contributions to the nation’s football administration include the drafting of the blueprint for the repackaging and repositioning of professional football in Nigeria under an autonomous league board in 2004. That led to the creation of the Nigerian Football League. In 2013, he led the team that negotiated the LMC Governance Structure with the club owners, co-drafting the NPFL rule book, among others.

According to Dikko, his mission at the glass house is to lead and govern the NFF with integrity; promote participation at all levels; ensure the standard and financial wellbeing of the game; foster development at all levels; and effectively represent of the game, at home and abroad.

Born in Kaduna State, Dikko attended Ahmadu Bello University, Kaduna State, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Quantity Surveying. He also obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Management, a Master of Business Administration degree from the same university.