SPORTS OFFICER AIMS TO REVITALIZE GENDER EQUALITY IN NIGERIA

Because growing up as a girl in Nigeria was often a struggle, Oluwaseun Nariwoh is determined to use her life to help other Nigerian women succeed. While earning a PhD degree with specialization in sports administration and management, master’s degrees in sports administration and management and in international affairs at the University of Lagos, she also competed in table tennis. Over the course of 10 years, she played on four teams—Lagos State, Plateau State, Edo State, and the University of Lagos—and won top honors at national and international events.

Applying her education and passion, Oluwaseun now serves as senior sports officer at the Lagos State Sports Commission where she works to increase women’s participation in sports, and as a result, address Nigeria’s low participation rates of women in sport, the exclusion of women with disabilities from sport, and lack of effective crossover programs that include sport and education. Oluwaseun seeks to develop skills needed to revitalize women’s roles in sports and sport-based careers in Nigeria, while also making progress toward gender equality.

For GSMP: Empowering Women through Sports 2019, Oluwaseun will be mentored by Jean Merrill, Director of Inclusion at the NCAA and Shay Wallach, Assistant Director of Inclusion at the NCAA, and their team in Indianapolis, Indiana.