Bowling in Nigeria

Bowling in Nigeria

A new sport for Nigeria

Nigeria is fast accommodating various kinds of sports which have not over the years become popular in the country; one of such sports is bowling! The sport of Bowling in Nigeria is being overseen by the Nigeria Tenpin Bowling Federation who strives to make the game spring up as one of the popular games in Nigeria.

Bowling initially was used only for recreation as it can be seen in some of the pubs and lounges in Lagos, Abuja and others but with the introduction of the sport in Nigeria, it is believed that the aspiring players who have an interest in the sport can make the country proud through fervent practice and total dedication.

Accordingly, the NTBF all through the years has been in touch with the sports commission and the ministry of sports to arrange bowling clinics for students, youths and adults in order to initiate the sport into the different states of the federation.

In 2010, for the first time, the NTBF successfully arranged the “Star of Nigeria got Talent” bowling competition identification program, which was the first step of the five-year development program.

The target of this program is to know the potential bowlers and also to develop these bowlers as feeders for the National Squad.

A total of 100 youth and adult bowlers were part of the program out of which 27 were recruited into the national squad and 5 into the National Youth Development Program level A and level B respectively.

Checked 30 September 2026

Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games and African Games

Lawn bowls is one of the oldest Commonwealth Games sports, played at every edition except 1966 and indoors at Glasgow 2026, but Nigeria has never entered. Ten-pin bowling was a one-off local sport. Neither form has been on the African Games programme.

The next African Games are in Cairo, Egypt, from 20 January to 7 February 2027. See the full medal stories on our Commonwealth Games and African Games pages.