July 23 – In an effort to bring some order to the general chaos that is prevailing in Nigerian football, a delegation of club owners from the Nigerian Premier League have met with the Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Tamuno Danagogo (pictured) with the aim of restructuring the game in Nigeria.
Nigeria had a FIFA suspension lifted last week after a regional high court quashed a mandate restraining the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) board from operating.
FIFA’s suspension had been imposed because of government interference in the affairs of the country’s NFF. Nigerian authorities had issued an order for the sports ministry to appoint new football leaders but FIFA warned the suspension would stay in place until such court action had been withdrawn – which it was.
The meeting between The Association of Premier League Club Chairmen and Managers (Club Owners) Danagogo was described in a statement as more than an official courtesy call.
The 22-man club delegation was led by Isaac Danladi who is also chairman of the North central premiership side Nasarawa United FC.
The club owners thanked Danagogo for his intervention in lifting the suspension, at the same time highlighting issues of distrust within football’s stakeholders in the country and what they believe is non-compliance with football’s statutes by successive football administrations – this has led to the litigation in Nigerian courts on several occasions.
The clubs complained that they had been excluded from the administration of football in the country and that they had no control of the League Management Company (LMC), which they claimed was being run as a commercial company rather than as a vehicle to develop and promote the club game.
Two members of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), chief Emeka Inyama and Felix Anyansi Agwu, attended the meeting in their capacities as chairmen of Asia Warriors FC and Enyimba FC respectively.
The final outcome of the meeting and the next steps are unclear, but what is becoming clearer is that there will need to more transparency and a football partnership that takes account of club and government interests in collaboration with the NFF.
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