HISTORY OF DEAF SPORTS IN NIGERIA


There is no formal record of any sporting competition of the deaf prior to 1980. However, oral report shows that deaf people mostly in schools engage in sporting activities especially football prior to 1983. Between 1983 and 1985, the Federal Ministry of Sports and Youths in conjunction with JAYCEE organized competition for persons with disability including the deaf.


The government of Nigeria recognized the right of every individual to develop his/her sports talent to the fullest and henceforth bring about sports development in the country. With this opportunity, sports for persons with disabilities were sanctioned. The physical disabled (wheel chair), the hearing imipaired, the mentally challenged and the spinal cord injury. These persons with special needs sports were coordinated as a single sport- special sports with Special Sports Federation of Nigeria (SSFN) taking charge of its organization and administration. Thus, competitions were organized for special persons at the National and States level since 1983 after the formation of National Sports Association for the Disabled (NSAD) in 1981. NSAD is the old name for Special Sports Federation of Nigeria (SSFN).

Following non-representation on the executive committee and marginalization, coupled with the status conferred on National Sports Association of the deaf, the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) to go independent of other disabled sports. The deaf athletes and officials began to dissociate themselves from NSAD’s organized sports programmes. Similarly, the NSAD itself refused to include deaf event in the sport programme organized for the disabled. The first of such move was the meeting of some group of deaf sports lovers in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria on the 29th of July 1995, in that meeting, many problems confronting deaf sports were addressed. They resorted to form a separate deaf sports association. Nigeria National Association for the Deaf Sports Commission (NNADSC) was formed with few officers appointed to manage the affairs of deaf sports. Mr. Amuda S. Ibrahim and late Kayode Daramola were appointed chairman and secretary general respectively.

The NNADSC was however not functioning as NSAD continued to hold sway and get government sanction/approval to organize sports programmes for persons with disability. However, before it disappeared, the NNADSC succeeded in ensuring the inclusion of deaf athletes to participate in Paralympics version of the 6th All African Games held in Cairo, Egypt from November 2nd to December 5th 1995. On January 12th and 13th 1996, a meeting was converged at the conference room of the National Institute for Sports (NIS), the name of the association was changed from NNADSC to Nigeria Deaf Sports Federation (NDSF), 40 deaf athletes, few officials and lovers of deaf sports from Various states of Nigeria were in attendance. Mr John S. Yusuf and Mr. Kamaldeen Alabi were elected first president and general secretary respectively. They were charged with the responsibility of getting recognition and registration with the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports and the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD).

The Nigeria Deaf Sports Federation (NDSF) has succeeded in acquiring certificate of full membership of International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) in 2001. They also got recognition from the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.

How to Reference this article 
Ademola, V. D (2019). HISTORY OF DEAF SPORTS IN NIGERIA. Retrieved from https://www.youdread.com/2019/05/history-of-deaf-sports-in-nigeria.html

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