Nigeria Premier League still striving for true professionalism- Yakmut

The superlative performance of Heartland and Kano Pillars in this year’s CAF Champions league is an indication that we have arrived. And we have arrived in grand style. The excitement about it is that the league has improved tremendously in terms of performance on the field of play even though in term of other packages […]

The superlative performance of Heartland and Kano Pillars in this year’s CAF Champions league is an indication that we have arrived. And we have arrived in grand style. The excitement about it is that the league has improved tremendously in terms of performance on the field of play even though in term of other packages we haven’t arrived. But I think the journey so far is an impressive one. We are delighted to be the one responsible for the running of the league and we are also delighted that we are beginning to meet the expectations of Nigerian football lovers.  I am not in any dilemma. My joy is that they are writing a final exam and the loser in that exam does not fall in the class of losers.  If look at the journey so far, so many clubs have fallen by the way side. And the fact that these two clubs have got to this level is no mean achievement. And I did say earlier on in an interview that I am a very lucky person because I am from a background of a very successful polygamous family whereby the destiny of the collective family is normally dictated individually or collectively. And in the case of Heartland and Kano Pilars, whichever team that wins is an act of destiny but then there is no record of failure. It is all achievement because it is a win win thing for the Globacom premier league.

How much support did the clubs receive from the Nigeria Premier League board in their continental campaign?

Actually the role we played was motivational and we made sure that the fixtures were not over bearing on them to enable them give the continental challenge their best shot and also accommodate their league matches. If you look at it, all the team did very well in the last season. Bayelsa United are the champions of last season, Heartland is the runners up and Kano Pillars is the defending champions of the previous season and they have retained their place in the premier league. So the credit of the clubs managing the continental matches and the domestic league without any hitches goes to the league body.

But are you confident that the better club between the two would go ahead to win the CAF Cup for Nigeria?

I am a very positive person. I think the ticket of the semi finals for us a good ticket for permutation, for concluding that at the end of ninety minutes, Nigeria will emerge victorious. However, if we do not, it will still be a battle well fought.

Despite the performance of the premier league clubs, most Nigerians still doubt the rating of the league as the best in Africa, a position which was recently amplified by Coach Kelechi Emetole of Heartland who berated the performance of the league organizers and the rating of the league. What is your take on this?

It is true that in ranking, the players are first because what he was referring to as administrators was not the premier league board but those who run the respective clubs. All the clubs in the last season were owing players and their coaches. And this is not good in professionalism. If we are to calibrate the importance and the excellence of performance, we would give it to the players first. The players are first, the Premier league board and the title sponsors are tied in the second position, then third goes to officiating officials and by my rating, the fourth position goes to the clubs. The least in terms of contribution is the spectators. So for us to have a truly professional league, we need all parties to put their hands of deck for us to move the league forward. For now, we are the number one in terms of field of play no doubt about it, we have  proved it by the performance of the clubs. And we are going to be number one throughout next season because the two clubs will also retain the ticket for the continental championship by virtue of their performance in the ongoing championship.

Yes, you are the number one on the field of play but are you also number one in terms of professionalism?

Our average performance is not very good. Our performance on the field of play is the best but our marketing arrangement is not perfect yet because the value of the league ought to have been better than what it is now. And then clubs structure where they do not have their own stadium, they don’t have their own secretariat, they don’t have full administrative machinery, they don’t even pay salaries regularly, remuneration doesn’t come as and when due, all these are question marks.

What is the latest on the committee which the league board set up to meet with Globacom to iron out some of the acrimonious aspects of the sponsorship agreement?

The meeting was held and it was a huge success. For the very first time since the contract was consummated, the two bodies sat down together to appraise the performance of the contract in terms of mutual benefit to the sponsor and mileage on behalf of the sponsor. We also discussed the issue of timely payment. So we all agreed that we are going to come out with a central working strategy. We were able to address issues that will promote both the league and the sponsors.

But there were rumours that the league board was shopping for a replacement for Globacom. How true is this?

It is not true that we were shopping for a replacement for Globacom. We are not shopping for another sponsor. What we said was that a committee was going to meet the sponsor to discuss remittance and consolidate on the previous years of the relationship. It was a business to business relationship for the development of the league for the benefit of the sponsor. But certainly we have asked them for expression of first right of refusal to continue with the contract. Their contract with us expires this season. And the contract says during the year ending the contract, the sponsor will be written to express interest in continuing and if they do, we would now sit down and review the contract based on the current market situation. We have written them and once the time limit expires and there is no response from them, we can then go ahead and advertise. But for now, the first right of refusal is the priority and prerogative of the current sponsor.

Was the committee able to thrash out some of the contentious issues which dominated the headlines during the Super Four Championships in Ilorin as it had to do with disbursement of funds?

We don’t have any area of conflict. We are only agreeing on the procedure of disbursement and benefit. How does the sponsor benefit from the amount being spent. We want to ensure that apart from enjoying tax rebate, the sponsor should also enjoy the moral satisfaction of its corporate social responsibility.