The President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Uyi Akpata, In this interview with AJIBADE OLUSESAN, spoke on the federation’s vision to grow the sport in Nigeria through grassroots development, improved facilities, high performance programmes and stronger commercial partnerships.
Excerpt
It’s great to see you return as NCF president, with many expecting you and your board to build on the success of your first tenure. You must have been taking steps to deepen growth in Nigerian cricket… Holistically, the first thing we did after we were elected, around October, was to organise a two-day strategic session in Lagos in November. About 30 of us attended, including the 13 board members and other key stakeholders in Nigerian cricket.
The essence of the meeting was to sit down together and carefully review our strategy. We asked ourselves fundamental questions about the direction of the game and the future we want for cricket in Nigeria. During those two days, we looked at what had been achieved over the years and what still needed to be done. We wanted to clearly define our priorities and make sure everyone was aligned with the vision of the federation.
One of the major outcomes of that session was the understanding that we needed to reposition cricket in Nigeria in a way that would make it more impactful and more relevant to society. One of the things that came out very clearly was our new tagline, which is “Creating impact through the game of cricket.” When people talk about sports development, the first instinct is often to say you want to become the best team in the world or win international trophies.
Those are obviously important goals, but we realised that cricket in Nigeria must stand for something deeper. Creating impact means that the sport should positively affect different groups of people. For example, cricket can impact the lives of players by giving them opportunities for education, discipline and exposure. It can also create opportunities for young children who may not otherwise have access to organised sports programmes. Beyond that, cricket must also create value for corporate partners and sponsors who support the game.
If companies are investing in cricket, they should see clear benefits in terms of visibility, brand alignment and community engagement. So when we say we want to create impact, we mean that cricket should deliver value across the entire ecosystem — players, communities, schools, sponsors and the country at large. How does that philosophy translate into your strategic priorities? One of the areas we are now focusing on is building a stronger commercial outlook for Nigerian cricket.
Traditionally, cricket development in many countries, including Nigeria, has relied heavily on funding from the International Cricket Council and occasional support from stakeholders. While that support remains important, we believe the sport has now reached a stage where it can begin to generate its own value. For instance, during one of our tournaments in November last year, we had two social media partners in India who streamed the matches live. Within just 10 days, the games generated about two million views.
Someone later told me that if you analyse the digital value of that level of engagement, it could be equivalent to nearly $100,000 in media value. When you see figures like that, it shows that cricket is not just a sport but also a platform with significant commercial potential. That is why we are now thinking seriously about content creation, digital engagement and partnerships that can unlock new revenue streams for the game.
Can you lead us through the key elements of the federation’s strategy?
Our strategic pillars have largely remained consistent, but we have strengthened them. The first pillar is grassroots development, and this remains the most important part of what we do. Every year, our goal is to reach about 250,000 children through various cricket programmes across Nigeria. These programmes take place primarily in schools, where we introduce young boys and girls to the sport.
When I first got involved in cricket administration about four or five years ago, we had only about seven development officers working across the country. At that time, the reach of the game was quite limited. T o – day, we have around 45 development officers fully employed by the federation, and they are spread across different states. Their job is to work directly with schools, state governments and local communities to introduce cricket and organise competitions. This has significantly expanded the footprint of the game in Nigeria. Are you already seeing tangible results from these grassroots programmes?
Yes, the results are beginning to show. A good example is Kaduna State, where we recently saw the emergence of the first set of female Under-17 cricket players from the state. The response from parents and the community has been extremely encouraging. Many parents who initially knew very little about cricket are now very excited that their daughters are playing the sport and representing their schools. Another important element is that every player who comes through our programmes is registered in a central database.
This allows us to track their progress from the grassroots level all the way to the national teams. It means that when a player eventually represents Nigeria, we already know their development history. For example, when our women’s Under-19 team travelled to Malaysia and finished sixth at the tournament, we knew the background of each player in that squad because they had all come through our development system.
Facilities are often a major challenge in Nigerian sports. How is cricket addressing that issue?
Facilities form the second pillar of our strategy, and we have made steady progress in that area. One of the reasons international teams such as Zimbabwe and South Africa are comfortable travelling to Nigeria for tournaments is because they recognise that our facilities have improved significantly. In addition to the main cricket facilities in Abuja, we now have functioning venues in several other locations.
For example, we have facilities at Lagos, the University of Lagos, Government College Ibadan, and Edo Boys High School in Edo State. At Edo Boys High School in particular, the development has been remarkable. The facility now has multiple cricket strips, and there is even a dedicated pitch specifically for female players. These improvements are helping us host more competitions and also give our players better training conditions.
Are there plans to expand these facilities further?
Yes, definitely. Our long-term plan is to replicate similar facilities across other parts of the country. For example, we are looking at building a modern pavilion and additional pitches in Abuja, which will serve as a high-performance hub for Nigerian cricket. We also want to establish high-performance centres across different geopolitical zones.
These centres will include not just cricket pitches but also training areas, dressing rooms, offices and modern support infrastructure. Facilities like these are critical because they allow players to train consistently and prepare properly for international competitions.
How is Nigeria performing on the international stage at the moment?
That brings us to the third pillar of our strategy, which is high performance. Currently, Nigeria is ranked 26th in the world in women’s cricket and 36th in men’s cricket. For a country where cricket is still developing, these rankings are encouraging.
They show that our development programmes are gradually translating into competitive results. However, we are not satisfied yet. Our aim is to continue improving these rankings by investing in better coaching, more competitions and stronger player development pathways.
Coach Steve Tikolo recently stepped down after about three years with the Nigerian national team. What is the plan to appoint a successor?
Coach Steve Tikolo did an excellent job during his time with us and contributed significantly to the development of the players. But he had to leave because of personal and professional commitments.
Interestingly, he has now taken up a new role as the national team coach of Uganda, which shows how highly regarded he is within African cricket. The recruitment process is already well underway. The last time we advertised the coaching position, we received about 22 applications.
This time, however, the response has been much stronger. We received 45 applications from different parts of the world. From that pool, we have shortlisted 10 candidates, and the next step will be to conduct interviews and narrow the list down to three finalists. After that, the board will hold virtual meetings with the finalists before making a final decision.
What qualities are you looking for in the next coach?
We are looking for someone with strong international experience. Ideally, the candidate should have either coached a national team or worked at the first-class level in a recognised cricket system.
It would also be an advantage if the person had played cricket at a high level during their career. We received applications from several countries, including Australia, England, South Africa and Zimbabwe. That diversity of applicants shows that the Nigerian coaching position is becoming increasingly attractive international.
