The Nigeria Olympic Committee as it is presently known is a metamorphosis of the Nigeria Olympic and British Empire Games Association (NOBEGA) which was founded in 1949 by British expatriates whose aim was to expose Nigerian track and field athletes and footballers to international competitions. NOBEGA later became the Nigerian Olympic Association (NOA) which in turn was re-christened the Nigeria Olympic Committee.
The NOC applied to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – the supreme governing body of sports worldwide, for recognition and was officially admitted into the global Olympic Family in 1951 as the 69th member of the IOC. Today there are 206 NOCs in the world that are recognized by the IOC.
Also, the Nigeria Commonwealth Games Association (Commonwealth Games Nigeria) was admitted by the Commonwealth Games Federation into the British Empire Games in 1949 and first participated in the British Empire Games, held in Auckland, New Zealand in 1950.
The NOC was incorporated with the Corporate Affairs Commission on 12th March, 1993, as a registered non-governmental body, under the Companies and Allied Matters Decree No. 1 of 1990.
The Nigeria Olympic Committee is governed by an 8-member Executive Committee and professional staff headed by the Secretary General. The Executive Committee is elected at the Congress every four years. Apart from the Executive Committee, there is also the Executive Board which is mainly composed of National Olympic Sport Federations, with two representatives of athletes and the IOC Member in Nigeria. The Executive Board is empowered to set policies and strategies for the organisation. There is also the General Assembly which meets once a year at the Annual General Meeting.
