The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau, and Club Owners have urged for a more organised and successful Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
The NFF Director of Communications in Abuja, Mr. Ademola Olajire, made a statement including this information.
The decision was made after a meeting in Abuja.
”There is an urgent need to institute a better-packaged, fulfilling and more fruitful NPFL that will germinate a more beneficial football economy for all stakeholders,” Gusau said earlier.
13 club owners attended the meeting, with Isaac Danladi, the manager of Nasarawa United and chairman of the club owners, and Ibrahim Galadima, the former president of Nigerian football, representing the Kano Pillars.
Others include Ferdinand Emeka (Rangers Int’l FC), Promise Nwachukwu (Heartland FC), Adamu Mohammed (Niger Tornadoes FC), Coach “Amehi Dickson (Dakkada FC), and Paul Bassey (Akwa United FC).
Others include Jude Anyadufu (Enyimba FC), Abubakar Abubakar (Gombe United FC), Dominic Iorfa (Lobi Stars FC), Tunde Ogunja (Sunshine Stars), Tunde Olaniyan (Shooting Stars FC), and Abdulsamad Badama (Katsina United FC).
Absent with excuses were representatives of Rivers United, Kwara United, Plateau United, and Wikki Tourists.
At the conclusion of the meeting, club owners reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to the board’s efforts to guarantee that the NPFL truly lives up to its moniker as a professional league.
Participants claimed that the NPFL had experienced significant issues over the previous six years and named a lack of sponsorship, no TV broadcast, poor officiating, inadequate funding, a lack of match integrity, poor match official compensation, and significant debt as major factors preventing a healthy league.
Other issues, according to them, include matches won on the basis of the highest bidder, inadequate infrastructure, inept administrators, and the lack of prize money or the failure to honour it.
They requested that the NFF president and his board seriously consider the aforementioned areas of concern and restructure the NPFL in accordance with global best practices.
Additionally, they requested that the NFF president appoint a team of football specialists to investigate both the present Interim Management Committee (IMC) and the prior League Management Committee (LMC).
Participants in the conference decided to develop a practical governance structure for the NPFL in order to advance football in Nigeria and benefit all significant football stakeholders.
The club owners urged the NFF president to swear in the current IMC, who was chosen by the Federal Government through the Minister for Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, but only for a brief period of time, Olajire stated.
