By Emma Jemegah
Soon after leaving office as Ogun State Commissioner for Sports Development in May 2011, Bukola Olopade ventured into sports marketing via his Nilayo Sports Management Limited.
In the last couple of years, he has brought back interest in athletics, with the popular Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, now in its 9th edition. This has undoubtedly put Nigeria in the global spotlight.
The Access Bank Lagos City Marathon has steadily progressed and has received the World Athletics certification, as a Gold-Label rating, one of only two Gold Label races in Africa.
Not done yet, Olopade also started the Abeokuta 10km Race in 2019 and the Remo Ultra Race, which have changed the face of sporting events in Ogun State.
Through these, he is spreading economic prosperity to the hosting cities and ultimately showcasing their tourism potential to thousands of participants from all walks of life.
Nilayo Sports Management Limited, his company, has signed a multi-billion naira contract deals that would see the birth of the Abuja City International Marathon.
He has also ventured into football, where he once owned Nilayo Football Club, a team that campaigned in the nation’s second tier league, the Nigeria National League (NNL). Olopade has secured a place for himself in the history of sports in Nigeria as one who conceived the idea and profit- ably executed the sponsorship drive of the NFF, by bringing Stanbic-IBTC and other corporate partners to invest in Nigerian football, as sponsors.
Through his drive, Stanbic-IBTC Holdings Plc. partnered with the NFF for the provision of group life assurance for all 35 players of the national team with a total sum assured of N1.75 billion, the NFF also signed a N400 million sponsorship deal with Premier Lotto (Baba Ijebu).
Under his watch as the chief marketer of the NFF, Nigeria’s largest telecoms company, MTN, announced the signing of a partnership valued at N500 million while Air Peace followed with a partnership agreement worth over N300 million in cash and value with the (NFF) to become the official airline sponsor of Nigerian national teams.
At various times, Olopade was the Vice President, International Wheelchair Basketball Federation Africa (Jan 2013 – Jan 2019) and the President, Nigeria Wheelchair Basketball Federation (Jan 2011 – Jan 2017).
He has been appointed by Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State as chair- man of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the National Sports Festival to be hosted by the state this year.
For his giant strides in sports development, Olopade is The Sun Sports Personality of the Year, 2023.