Negotiation Over Stakeholder Unity in Nigeria's Esports

TLDR

• When the National Sports Commission inaugurated the board of the Esports Federation of Nigeria in February 2025, its leadership referred to approximately six years of efforts to organise and unite esports stakeholders.
• In a new Esports Africa News interview, a representative of the Esports Federation of Nigeria discusses the long and sometimes difficult effort to bring stakeholders together around a common structure.
• Bringing stakeholders together requires negotiation over positions, authority, commercial interests and institutional identity.
• Esports is larger than elite competition Nigeria’s esports opportunity cannot be measured solely by medals or national-team appearances.
• Nigeria’s achievement lies in choosing negotiation over endless institutional rivalry and creating a platform around which a national strategy can be built.