NPFL Club Owners Pay Courtesy Visit On Gusau, State Challenges Facing League

The club owners analysed the challenges the NPFL faced in the six years under the Shehu Dikko-led LMC

NFF President Ibrahim Gusau has been holding several meetings to sustain and address issues surrounding the football community in the country, since assuming office.

On Monday, it was the Nigerian Professional League (NPFL) club owners who paid Mr Gusau a courtesy visit where they stated problems the league has faced in the last six years.

Nasarawa United boss, Isaac Danladi, led the 13-man delegation, and had in attendance other club chairmen out of the 20 clubs that took part in the just concluded 2021/22 football season.

On the visit were former NFF boss Ibrahim Galadima, who represented Kano Pillars, Paul Bassey for Akwa United; Adamu Aliyu Mohammed from Niger Tornadoes FC; Coach Amehi Dickson of Dakkada FC; Promise Nwachukwu from Heartland FC; Ferdinand Emeka from Rangers.

Others are Tunde Ogunja from Sunshine Stars; Tunde Olaniyan from Shooting Stars FC; Abubakar Abubakar from Gombe United FC; Dominic Iorfa from Lobi Stars FC; Jude Anyadufu from Enyimba FC, and Abdulsamad Badama from Katsina United FC, were all present.

Wikki Tourists and the trio of Nigerian clubs that took part in continental matches over the weekend, Plateau United, Kwara United and Rivers United were absent, and apologised for their absence.

Also at the meeting were NFF executives; the Deputy General Secretary, Emmanuel Ikpeme and Ag. Director of Legal, Barr. Okey Obi was present at the meeting.

The long discussion focused on five resolutions as the club owners emphatically disclosed the challenges facing the league.

The club owners analysed about 10 challenges as the major limitations to the growth of the league in the six years under the Shehu Dikko-led League Management Company.

They stated a lack of sponsorship, absence of television broadcast, poor officiating, insufficient funding, poor infrastructure, amongst others as the challenges the league has plodded through in the last six years.

The full text reads:

1) The Club Owners unanimously congratulated the new NFF President, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau and Members of his Board and pledged total support to the Board on any steps it will take to ensure that the Nigeria Professional Football League really begins to live up to the name of a professional league in every sense of the word.

2) The Club Owners collectively maintained that the NPFL has suffered serious problems in the past six years and identified the following areas:

a) Lack of Sponsorship

b) No TV Broadcast

c) Poor Officiating

d) Insufficient Funding

d) Lack of Match Integrity

e) Poor remuneration of match officials and huge indebtedness in this area

f) Matches won on the basis of the highest bidder

g) Poor Infrastructure

h) Incompetent Administrators

i) No prize money for winners and/or failure to honour the same, et cetera

3) The Club Owners charged the NFF President and his Board to critically look into the aforementioned areas of concern and restructure the Nigeria Professional Football League in line with international best practices.

4) They called on the NFF President to set up a small committee of football experts to look into the former League Management Committee (LMC) and the current Interim Management Committee (IMC) and come up with a functional governance structure to drive the NPFL for the good and development of football in Nigeria and for the benefit of all major football stakeholders.

5) The Club Owners appealed to the NFF President to inaugurate the present IMC as appointed by the Federal Government through the Honourable Minister for Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, but with a short tenure.