The rejected stone now chief cornerstone?

At a point, it was seen as a liability to be discarded but the story has changed. What was regarded as a liability has suddenly become an asset. What is responsible and how far can this transformation go?

There is no doubt that the Nigeria Premier League is the highest level of domestic football in the country. Before now, the league was managed by the then Nigeria Football Association as a department until it set it aside as an independent body. It later saw the registration of the league by the Chief Oyuki Obaseki-led team as an independent body.

The registration did not go down well with the Sani Lulu-led NFF because Obaseki was accused of running the Nigeria Premier League, NPL as a personal business hence there was rancour between the two bodies.

During the time, the league enjoyed sponsors from Globacom, DSTV, BMW, Lucozade Sport amongst others but shortly after he left, some of the did not renew their contracts while the ones remaining refused to pay the agreed fees.

Some of them claimed that they didn’t enjoy the mileage while others argued that they didn’t get value for their money. Shortly after Obaseki left, peace relatively returned but after the election that saw the coming of Davidson Owumi, another problem started. This time, it was between Owumi and Rumpson Baribote.

This lingered for a long time and when it was eventually agreed that Baribote should assume duty as chairman, the problem of sponsorship came up. All efforts to cancel the third party agreement made by Owumi’s short stay in office proved abortive hence Baribote was unable to secure another sponsorship deal.

When it was obvious that he won’t be able to cancel or secure another title sponsor, the club owners during its congress, impeached the chairman and set up an interim committee to run the league.

Not satisfied with the action of the club owners, Baribote dragged the body to court and the crisis lingered on for a long time hence the league was abandoned. This resulted to humiliation of Nigerian clubs participating at the continental level.

Chief Oyuki Obaseki

All efforts by the minister of Sports and chairman of the National Sports Commission, NSC, Bolaji Abdullahi to settle the aggrieved parties proved abortive hence a new body was set up by the Aminu Maigari-led NFF to oversee the affairs of the league.

The President of the NFF, Maigari set up the League Management Company, LMC headed by Nduka Irabor, saddled with running the Nigeria Professional Football League. The body took off without any financial support from the NFF and the NSC but commenced the league with grants from different quarters.

Even while the LMC was trying to convince sponsors to bring money, the club owners were struggling with the organization on the change of nomenclature of the league from the Nigeria Premier League to Nigeria Professional Football League and the LMC as a company to manage the league.

The club owners were also angry that the LMC is not in tandem with the way they are used to doing business. They are still living in a world where decision affecting the league business is discussed at a Congress and not at an Annual General Meeting, AGM.

Our finding shows that congresses are only held in football by Federations, Confederations and the world governing body, FIFA. In the operating manuals of the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC and in commercial enterprises which the League belongs, it is the AGM that approves policy directions.

Shortly after, the LMC was able to convince Globacom to be the title sponsor of the league. The title sponsorship deal is worth about N1.8 billion ($12 million). This development brings to an end a three-year wait for a title sponsorship in the elite division in Nigeria.

The three-year title partnership will run till 2015 and it would be paid in three instalments in three years starting with the current season. The first payment of N550 million ($3.4 million) is expected to be made available for the ongoing season.

Meanwhile, the LMC remitted N208 million, which represent the clubs’ sponsorship earnings for the 2012/13 league season, to the 20 Glo Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL clubs. The sum of N10.4 million was released to each club.

It would be recalled that for two seasons, the NPL has been without a title sponsor, after the first auction was poorly handled, which led the bidders, Total promotions and Globacom to seek redress in court.

Apart from the clubs, LMC, also presented the sum of N25 million to the NFF, being five per cent of the money raised in sponsorship fees since coming on stream early this year.

Hon Nduka Irabor

Irabor said the LMC is managing the league in trust for the club owners, and that the company and the club owners now understand one another better. He stated that the presentation is proof that even more money can be made from the league if all stakeholders would play their part accordingly.

His words, “Our determination to take the league to an enviable height remains unshaken. We are working very hard to lay a solid foundation on which subsequent administrations can build to make the Nigeria League one of the very best in the universe.”

Maigari, while showering encomiums on the LMC, affirmed NFF’s approval for the manner the LMC has been sanitising Nigeria’s elite division and stated that both organisations were on the same page.

“The NFF approves of all that the LMC is doing and we are proud of the steps that you are taking to turn the Premier League around for the better. We also note that you have been making efforts, as required, to carry along the club owners in your activities. The NFF is equally proud of your moves to get the spectators back to the stadia so that our elite league can again be what it used to be in decades gone by,” Maigari said.

Meanwhile, clubs are beginning to enjoy the dividends of the LMC. Rivers State Sports commissioner, Fred Igwe recently presented Dolphins Football Club with a new bus.

Dolphins have not had a bus for about three seasons and the club had resorted to hiring for away games in the league. General Manager of Dolphins, Dumbor Awanen said the money used to purchase the bus was what the club received from their share of the League sponsorship money.

“I can confirm to you that we now have a bus and that money did not fall from the sky. You remember that we received 10.5 million naira as our share of the League sponsorship money just last month and we put that money into immediate good use. We must thank the sports commissioner also agrees to put that money into proper use,”Awanen said.

Also recently, the LMC signed a four-year TV rights deal with SuperSport for the coverage of the Nigeria Premier League worth US$34 million which will run from 2015 to 2019.

Irabor said, “Even though the amount is a far cry from what we need it would go a long way in changing the league. With this, Nigerians will have the pleasure of watching six matches a week. And this means happier days are ahead.

“It’s also important to know that for every year beginning from this year, they have agreed to give us $2m per year beginning from the season meaning we will be having more money in the league,” he added.

We gathered that the LMC is trying to encourage a more enduring club ownership that will move away from government or one-man ownership to public ownership through investments by interested businessmen and fans.

It would recalled that only the duo of Victor Baribote and Senator Bukola Saraki, owners of Nembe City and Abubakar Bukola Saraki, ABS Football Clubs that are private club owners in the country, the rest are caretakers and agents of government who treat club business the same way government property tend to be treated.

The LMC said it has commenced the processes of restructuring the NPFL to enable it meet FIFA and global standards of football and deliver its mandate to have a League for Nigeria, run by competent Nigerians and clubs for the benefit of both local and international footballers and fans.

We gathered that only clubs that meet the minimum requirements will be enrolled to be part of the league next season and such minimum requirements include evidence of financial capacity to meet obligations, existence of standard youth teams, contract templates for recruitment of players and coaches and guarantees to protect rights of league sponsors.

Irabor was quoted as saying, “It is just like the Central Bank’s policy on licensing of banks which requires them to meet certain conditions to operate. As a regulator, the LMC is within rights to insist on certain guarantees especially in a country where club managers have shown a predilection to maltreat players and coaches.”

He added, “With the new regime, clubs can sign on with any brand though the number of such will be limited in order not to dilute the equity of the major sponsor as it is done in Ghana, South Africa and in Europe.”

It is also said that the Broadcast right is going to be reviewed to conform to international standards and ensure that clubs are adequately remunerated unlike what was obtained in the defunct NPL where an agency collects over N750m and remits a mere N150m to the league.

Football analysts have commended the LMC for the way it is handling the league and expressed optimism that the league will in no distant future compete with other top leagues in the world. Irabor also said Nigerian league transformation is not negotiable.

How far can this assurance by the Irabor led LMC go? Would the incoming ministers of sports, NFF presidents after the present ones allow the transformation to continue? Only time will tell.