When Nigeria’s premier league season did not kick off as scheduled, I took more than a passing interest in the organisation of the league. After two postponements, I contacted my friends and colleagues who are sportswriters, asking them hard questions on the Nigerian Professional Football League .
How can it be explained that referees and players are being owed for more than three years? What kind of league is that? It has been widely reported that referees and club administrators fix matches – a criminal act that reinforces our culture of dishonesty. The leagues in mainland Europe run from August to May whereas in the Scandinavian countries , their leagues run from March to November because of the cold weather; these countries are practically snowed under during the other months of the year.
Prior to the scrapping of the LMC which was first headed by Nduka Irabor and subsequently by Shehu Dikko, the organisation secured a N5.1 billion deal with the South African broadcast company, DSTV, through its sports channel, SuperSports, to beam “match-of-the-week” live. The deal was for an initial period of four years .
The IMC eventually berthed the NPFL Board which is headed by Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye as Chairman. But what has changed between then and now? From the time that Bolaji Abdullahi was sports minister to Sunday Dare’s tenure, there have been attempts to raise the level of the game, but each outcome has been more of motion without movement.
“Eventually, I accepted the offer and once I take up any assignment, I serve to the best of my ability in a transparent manner. We have challenges, including finding sponsors for the league, but they are not irredeemable.” The 20 teams in the league – 17 clubs are owned by state governments while three are privately owned – did not play each other on a home-and-away basis, totaling 38 match days. The abridged format divided the teams into two groups of 10 teams each. The 10 teams in each group played each other on home-and-away basis, and the top three teams from each group qualified for the championship play-offs.
As an intervention agency which offered to support the league, GTI will take 10 percent of all revenues, according to the NPFL chairman. It was GTI that paid N10 million to each of the 20 teams in the league last season, and the N100 million paid to Enyimba for winning the league.
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