Boosting Nigerian cricket
Although sport in Nigeria is dominated by football, cricket is growing in popularity which will please everyone who is trying to spread the game through Africa
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
Although sport in Nigeria is dominated by football, cricket is growing in popularity which will please everyone who is trying to spread the game through Africa. In an interview with Punch, a major Nigerian newspaper, Kwesi Sagoe, the president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, talks about his hopes of taking the game further.
I do not agree that cricket is elitist; not in the light that you have portrayed it. Cricket as a sport has been played in Nigerian schools for many years. You could say that the media attention has not been favourable to the sport and that probably would have accounted for the notion that it‘s elitist. Also, the fact that the sport has not commanded a nation-wide participation, as football does, has made it a rather southern affair. But if you observe objectively, you will discover that it is very popular in the southern part of the country. The popularity is growing as I speak and I believe that with time, it will spread across the country.
Andrew McGlashan is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo