Minister Bolaji Abdullahi wants to be remembered as the minister who resolved all the crises in sports. He urgently wants workable templates in all spheres of the industry. He listens to all the sides in the divide before taking crucial decisions that have brought fillip in the sports.
He has demystified the monster called FIFA, which we dreaded like a plague. Unlike others before him, Abdullahi asked the relevant questions when he met with Sepp Blatter. He now knows what constitutes an offence and what doesn’t. The visit to Zurich stabilised our football. The rewards stare us in the face, especially with the recent Flamingoes 11-0 whiplash of Azerbaijan in the FIFA U-17 World Cup competition.
Going to the 2012 Olympic Games, Abdullahi was cautious over our medals expectations. Yet, he was hopeful, going by the accounts of our usually boastful coaches in the camps. He panicked, though when the medals became elusive but he sprang to his feet after reading several literatures on the Olympics and how countries prepared for the London edition.
Abdullahi’s speech two days to the end of the Olympics was detailed. He promised to factor out the new direction for sports. Today, we are told that we want to employ a specialist, a foreigner to re-order our preparation. But the biggest weapon is the desire to have an Olympic year budget for our sport. I say eureka!
Our biggest challenge when it comes to preparing our athletes for big competitions has been of cash. Most times our fiscal budgets don’t get to work until the middle of each year. Of course, there is the fiscal policy of returning all unspent cash to the treasury at the end of each year. With sports, a long haul preparation requires getting the bulk cash and planning with it over four years. It is good to hear that we are working on it. Yet, it is the thought of division of labour that the recruitment of a foreign expert for our sports campaign at the Olympics that excites this writer. Abdullahi takes the credit for this new trend anytime it materialises. Who says that journalists are not good administrators?
Over time, our preparations have been handled by one man who combines technical issue with the logistics of the contingents. His word is law. This sad trend pre-dates this regime, little wonder we have achieved the same results- massive failure.
Indeed, in x-raying the colossal failure at the London 2012 Olympic Games, the minister advocated for the eradication of the usual Nigeria blame game, stressing that we need to learn from the experience in London to plan for the future. Heads didn’t roll, in spite of brazen inefficiencies. Instead, the bigger picture of restructuring the workings at the National Sports Commission (NSC) is being done silently. No one suggested that Nigeria should withdraw from all sporting activities whilst we rebuild. No talk of dragging people to the EFCC, like they did to NFF chieftains, led by Sani Lulu, Amanze Uchegbulam, Taiwo Ogunjobi and Bolaji Ojo-Oba. Abdullahi’s method is fixing the rot without washing our dirty linens in the public- for peace to reign.
It is on this score that this writer wants to appeal to the minister not to accept the option of stopping the league. Those masquerading as stakeholders at the Nigeria Premier League (NPL), especially, those outside the system, have no locus. It would shock Abdullahi to read here that none of them has any role to play in the clubs where they got elected into the board.
In Nigeria, people don’t quit. They circumvent the laws to perpetuate their stay in office. The minister can understand why they are quick to suggest the need to stop the league because it elongates their stay in the place.
The point must be made, honourable minister, that the flaws noticed in the NPL didn’t start today or yesterday. In fact, the mistake began when the so-called club owners arm-twisted Col. Musa Mohammed (rtd) to include them in the inaugural body that ran the league. And the best development experienced in the history of the domestic game arose from stiff opposition from those members who were not league clubs members.
Since that interim body’s time lapsed, club owners have corrupted the place with intrigues. Double standards have been applied in handling issues to such despicable level that a club which paid money to the NPL to pay their players and coaches was shamelessly used to run the affairs of the place. What moral justification can such a body aswhen the so-called club owners arm-twisted Col. Musa Mohammed (rtd) to include them in the inaugural body that ran the league. And the best development experienced in the history of the domestic game arose from stiff opposition from those members who were not league clubs members.
Since that interim body’s time lapsed, club owners have corrupted the place with intrigues. Double standards have been applied in handling issues to such despicable level that a club which paid money to the NPL to pay their players and coaches was shamelessly used to run the affairs of the place. What moral justification can such a body as NPL have to enforce the payment of players and coaches entitlements owed them?
Globally, leagues are run from cash generated from marketing windows, such as title sponsors, television rights and bill boards – to mention a few. These windows are thrown up to get the most lucrative deals. Cash promised are paid upfront and where there are breaches, the league body applies the rules to the letter, no matter whose ox is gored. Not so for us here because of the way the deals are struck in the first instance.
I still grieve that the NPL lost the chance to reap bountifully from television right when some club owners in the interim board stopped Africa Independent Television (AIT) from beaming the league games, despite the monumental success the Raymond Dokpesi-led group achieved.
As a member of the interim body, we went to Dokpesi, seeking his station’s assistance to beam the draws of the year’s league live, the first time in the annals of the domestic game. That showed that we were determined to effect changes in the league. Dopkesi accepted – on the condition that AIT would be given the first right of refusal anytime the television right was advertised. The interim board members agreed, more so when Dokpesi also accepted to beam all the key weekly matches live. It was a novelty and helped a great deal in restoring sanity.
My heart sank when AIT was denied the first right of refusal by some club owners whose teams finished poorly in the league. They opted for the television station which beams such events as a social responsibility, in spite of the fact that AIT’s Anyanfulu presented a flawless package, backed with a signed cheque to show the corporation’s seriousness to do business of sports broadcasting. Those who did that dastardly act to the league have apologise but the lucrative part of the game has become our albatross.
Minister sir, I know that you have reached an advanced stage in settling the issue of sponsorship and I dare say don’t let anyone scuttle it with the option of putting the league on ice. Those who benefit from the league don’t work in NSC, NFF nor are they club owners. Without the players, these meddlesome interlopers cannot function.
I also don’t know of rich men’s kids who play the game. It is the best platform for the offspring of the hewers of wood and drawers of water to shun crime to play the beautiful game. The domestic game belongs to the people. They shouldn’t be denied the only platform that gives them an opportunity to change the lives of their families if the excel.
Instead, honourable minister, I would suggest that you find time to meet with the governors with league teams to plead with them to release cash early to their teams. In the alternative, minister, you could also get the NPL board to pay the N10 million or is it N15 that they give to the clubs from the title sponsorship money into another account to serve as impress for players’ and coaches’ salaries, until they get paid by their state governments. The minister could suggest this platform to the governors.
Most of the cash paid into clubs’ accounts by the NPL from the sponsorship money are diverted by club chairmen or commissioners. In some instances, these administrators pay the cash into accounts that are already in red. The cash is gone; the players and the coaches suffer.
Our players and coaches need to earn their living, considering the fact that their life span is not more than 15 years. If the minister can ensure that they get paid, the league will improve. Can any good thing come from hungry coaches and players?
