I wish I have the brain of an elephant to recall the exact date. However, during one of Media Trust Limited’s Editorial Conferences in Abuja, a state correspondent narrated how he had tried to accomplish a task. After his tale of woes, the then CEO/Editor-in-Chief, Malam Manir Dan-Ali, said something that still resonates with me. Among other things, he said, “There is no reward for effort, there is reward for result”. By this, he meant one may put in all the effort that he can muster but if there is no good result to show, there will be no reward. I will get back to this shortly.
The Nigeria Professional Football League is organised on behalf of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) by the League Management Company, popularly known as LMC among football stakeholders. The coming into existence of the supposedly independent administrative body was masterminded by the then NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari. The controversies that greeted the birth of the LMC in 2012 is topic for another day.
So, since 2014, LMC has been in charge of organising the elite division of the Nigerian football league. Malam Shehu Dikko who doubles as the 2nd vice-president of the NFF has remained the Chairman of the company. He is ably supported in the day to day running of the LMC by an astute football administrator, Malam Salihu Abubakar, who is the Chief Operating Officer.
Despite the myriad of problems associated with the NPFL, one thing that is not in doubt is that the league has undergone some transformations, which have given it some semblance of professionalism when compared with the time it was administered by a department in the NFA and later NFF.
However, the LMC has failed woefully in the area of sponsorship. The failure of the company to make the league attractive enough to attract corporate sponsors is responsible for the numerous problems associated with the NPFL.
Since Nigeria’s telecommunication giants, Globacom ended its sponsorship of the NPFL in 2015, the LMC has not successfully entered into any financially rewarding partnership with any other organisation. The LMC had a broadcast sponsorship deal with Supersport but it was short lived as the South African company ended the partnership abruptly citing contract breaches on the part of the LMC.
It is also on record that the LMC in 2017 announced that it was jettisoning title sponsorship for multiple sponsors for the league. Consequently, the body tried its hands on broadcast sponsorship deals with Next Tv and then Redstrike but for inexplicable reasons, both arrangements fell through. So, it is sad to note that since the departure of Globacom in 2016, there is no concrete sponsor for the NPFL. Recently, LMC announced a mouth-watering sponsorship deal with the betting company, Bet9ja but there is nothing yet to show.
One may wonder why I am so bothered by the failure of the LMC to get sponsorship for the league. The truth of the matter is that every problem threatening the growth of the NPFL can be attributed to lack of sponsorship.
After a hat-trick of inconclusive seasons, the LMC struggled to ensure that the 2020/2021 NPFL season ran its full course. All 38 matches were played. However, the season ended when other leagues in Europe and some countries in Africa had started the 2021/2022 season.
As you read this, the English Premiership would be observing week 9 matches but the 2021/2022 NPFL season is yet to commence. To make matters worse, nobody knows when it would commence. The clubs may face congested fixtures again.
The consequence of delayed kick off is that NPFL clubs are easily bundled out of continental competitions by opponents whose leagues had resumed before the commencement of continental battles.
Presently, Rivers United, Enyimba FC and Bayelsa United are gasping for breath in CAF inter-clubs’ competitions but after today, as usual, maybe only Enyimba would be left standing.
For some seasons now, this has been the pathetic story of Nigerian clubs as far as continental football is concerned. And the reason for this is not far-fetched. The league does not have a sponsor, so there is usually paucity of funds to restart the NPFL in good time. These clubs go into continental duels short on fitness due to lack of competitive football.
It is possible that while Nigerian football fans are waiting eagerly for the resumption of the NPFL, the league organisers are still running from pillar to post to source for money to prosecute the new season. Maybe through divine intervention, the league would resume belatedly and the same ills that had bedeviled the NPFL would wax stronger.
In summary, Malam Shehu Dikko is a sound marketer who has brokered many deals in Nigerian football but if he fails to solve the lingering NPFL sponsorship puzzle, then his reputation as a shrewd businessman and football administrator might be called to question.
Accepted, he is daily cracking his brain to get sponsors for the league but as he goes hunting, he should remember that there is no reward for effort. There is reward for result. Goodluck my friend.
