January 5, 2021
By Ayo Onikoyi
Adedotun Olusanya, an international sports lawyer and advocate for sports governance, has been recognised with the “Award of Exemplary Impacts on Sports Development” by the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Ekiti Chapter.
SWAN Ekiti, keeping with the tradition of its national organisation, maintains a formidable and vibrant structure that has been at the forefront of promoting excellence in sports journalism in Nigeria.
With a rich history and a strong membership base, SWAN’s award to Adedotun Olusanya keeps with its ethos of recognising credible and authoritative voices in the sports industry. Adedotun Olusanya is certainly an authoritative voice in the Sports Law space.
Olusanya, currently studying at Boston College in the United States, expressed his gratitude for the recognition: “It is a crystallization moment for my career. Being recognized by industry practitioners in the sports industry is certainly a highlight of my seven-year career.”
The SWAN Ekiti Chairman, Mr. Ayodeji Ogunsakin lauded Olusanya’s contributions, stating, “These days, I hear a lot of our sports journalists referring to different provisions of the FIFA Statute and Code when discussing whether the Nigerian Football Federation should be banned or not. Mr. Olusanya deserves the credit for that for his numerous workshops and seminars targeted at imparting knowledge.”
SWAN Secretary (Ekiti) Qozeem Oladapo highlighted Olusanya’s impact on sports reporting: “I have had the opportunity of interviewing Sports Administrators in the Nigerian Football Federation on their need to put forward the question of independence doctrine and ‘specificity of sport’ at FIFA Congress. This was because of Adedotun Olusanya’s advocacy.”
Olusanya’s work has focused on improving accountability in football governance. He has argued that FIFA’s independence requirement enables unaccountability of member associations to their governments, even when governments provide funding. He has also suggested that a special FIFA treaty should be established to allow stakeholders to sue FIFA and its officials worldwide for breaches of fiduciary duties.
Olusanya’s advocacy that the powers of the Courts of Arbitration for Sports in the FIFA Treaty which ousts national courts jurisdiction is a violation of every country’s sovereignty. He argues that he is quite optimistic that when the court especially the European Court perceives the unaccountability in global sports due to the doctrine of specificity of sport, the principle will be overturned.
He further argues that national courts like conventional courts can still rule that they have jurisdiction despite FIFA statute as this borders on sovereignty under international law.
His LLB Thesis “Legal Framework of Sports Broadcast Rights in Nigeria” is usually referred to by a number of Sports journalists that FIFA’s doctrine of independence is the biggest contributing factor to corruption in world football.
His work analyzed how Nigeria has overpaid compared to South-Africa, Egypt, Kenya and Tunisia citing evidence that Nigeria has paid $60m more than other African countries due to overbidding. Public documents which he referred to indicates that Hi-Tv and DSTV excess payment was to the detriment of Nigerians leading to balance of payment deficit in Nigeria’s international trade. Olusanya emphasises that regulation by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is the only panacea because they have governmental authority to act in favor of the public.
The SWAN officials expressed their alignment with Olusanya’s views, stating that his recommendations are necessary to ensure proper accountability and transparency in global football administration. He was commended for his massive work being the first Sports Attorney to educate West African sports administrators and academies on applicable FIFA laws. They commended his approach to community outreach and education in his field of expertise.
Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/01/sports-lawyer-honoured-for-impact-on-nigerian-sports-development/