THE IMPACT OF SPORT UNITS IN PROMOTING THE STATUS OF SPORT IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN THE NORTH-EAST ZONE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study assessed the impact of Sport Units in promoting the Status of Sport in Tertiary Institutions in the North-East Zone, Nigeria. The population of this study comprised of Twenty-Five (25) tertiary institutions in North-East Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria which comprised of students, Deans of students’ affairs, coaches, Sports Personnel, members of sports committees and sports clubs in Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education, Monotechnics and Colleges of Agriculture with a population of One Thousand Six Hundred and Seventy-Nine (1,679) respondents. Three hundred and six (306) were used as a sample for this study. The sample of the study was guided by the Research Advisor (2006), who opined that for a population of one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine (1,679), three hundred and six (306) is an adequate sample size based on the confidence level of 95% with a marginal error of 0.05. The instrument used for data collection was the self–developed questionnaire in which seven research questions and seven hypotheses were formulated to guide this study. A total of 306 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to the respondents, and 300 were retrieved. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, and chi-square was used to analyse all the hypotheses at the 0.05 alpha level. The results revealed that organization of intramural and extramural sport programmes by sport units had significant impact on the status of sports in tertiary institutions in North-East zone of Nigeria (p = 0.000) and involvement of the sport units in budget planning for sports programmes had significant impact on the status of sports in tertiary institutions in the North-East zone of Nigeria (p = 0.00). This study concludes that the organization of intramural and extramural sport programs, the involvement of sport units in budget planning, effective planning for sports programs, and the provision and maintenance of sports facilities. It was recommended that other tertiary institutions should establish and maintain comprehensive intramural and extramural sports programmes with adequate funding and support. Sports units in the North-East zone of Nigeria should have greater involvement in budget planning processes with dedicated annual allocations for sports programmes.