Availability of Facilities and Equipment for Sports Administration at the Local Government Areas of Delta State, Nigeria

Sports facilities and equipment are fundamental to sports development and achievements globally. In Nigeria, the responsibility lies with the three tiers of governments (Federal, State and Local Governments) to provide facilities and equipment for sports administration, competitions, recreation and educational purposes. The extent to which sports facilities and equipment are provided at the local government level is not known. Justification for government’s heavy spending on sports at the local government area level is also not known. This study was therefore carried out to establish the extent to which sports facilities and equipment are provided for sports development at the local government areas of Delta State, Nigeria. Efforts at providing at the grassroots level, which is their responsibility need to be ascertained in terms of the extent to which they are provided. It is in this regard that this paper examined the extent to which sports facilities and equipment are available towards sports development at the Local Government Areas of Delta State, Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The sample size for the study is 400 determined through the whole sample sampling technique comprised of Local Government Sports Committee members, sports officers in all the Local Education Authorities and Sports Officers in the Ministry of Education offices in the 25 Local Government Areas of Delta State. A self structured questionnaire and checklist were used to elicit data. The results showed that Local Governments of Delta State provided facilities and equipment for soccer, athletics, badminton, volleyball, and general playing field to a high extent while the extent of provision of facilities and equipment for the other sports was low.