Assessing the Roles of Sport in Mitigating the Rising Poverty Amidst Subsidy Removal Among the Youth of Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Sports can be beneficial to people globally, particularly Nigerian as nation, in alleviating poverty, economic recovery and job creations. The paper assessed the roles of sport in mitigating the rising poverty among the youths of Ebonyi State, amidst subsidy removal in Nigeria. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of all the 73690 youths in Abakaliki metropolis of Ebonyi State. The sample size of the study was 125 selected using the topman method. A semi-structured questionnaire titled, “Roles of sports in poverty eradication among youths of Ebonyi state”. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation. The result of the study indicated that sports could be used to mitigate the rising poverty amidst subsidy removal among the youth of Ebonyi State Nigeria. There are entrepreneurial opportunities in sports for poverty eradication among youths and there are opportunities in sports facility repairs and maintenance for poverty eradication among youths. Based on the findings, the paper recommended that the government at all levels should organising sporting competitions at all the tiers of the government for youth’s talent development and that there is a need for building facilities and equipment in all the local governments in Nigeria to enhance youth’s sports development.