By Daily Sports on January 2, 2016

The Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) no doubt is one of the best leagues in Africa judging by the current positive developments engineered by the League Management Company (LMC) of Nigeria headed by Mr. Shehu Dikko. It is worthy of mention that the officiating in the league, the standard of stadia, the fan-ship and all round soccer professionalism is again being embraced in the Nigerian Professional Football League. The Nigeria players Union, National Association of Nigeria Professional Footballers (NANPF) on her own part has been working round the clock to ensure that the rights of Footballers in the League are secured, protected and guaranteed. The spate of events could strike the much envisaged balance and catapult our league to enviable heights.

One issue keeps sprouting tumultuous tide, however, and that is the blatant disregard to the very hallowed principle of Sanctity of Contract in the NPFL. In recent times, we have been faced with disputes ranging from unlawful termination of contracts to non-payment of salaries and bonuses as contained and agreed upon in the contract between the club and player inter alia.

We had argued in our earlier epistle on ‘Contractual Stability’ that the game of football can only achieve uniformity, certainty, equality and integrity in Nigeria if a variety of fundamental principles and basic salient rules are applied to all parties involved. We further opined that FIFA regulates football in order to protect the rights of players and clubs. See:  Contractual Stability, Nigerian Football Clubs Versus Players: Stabilizing the Stabilizer (A.P. Ezeaku).  

The FIFA Regulations aim to safeguard the principle of maintenance of contractual stability between professional football players and clubs which is of fundamental importance in order to have an efficient transfer system and to maintain a competitive balance amongst so many other reasons.

While many hands are on deck trying to seek a lasting solution to the hydra headed monster of contractual instability and breach of the doctrine of sanctity of contract, we argue strongly that the solution handiest at this time is Social Dialogue.

With the blatant disrespect and disregard for awards pronounced during the long duration of proceedings at the Players’ Status and Arbitration Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation by various football clubs in Nigeria and the our-hands-are-tied-stands of the committee in enforcing the awards given by it, the only sound and proper way to approach this issue is through social dialogue.

NANPF, LMC, the Football Clubs and all stakeholders should be willing and open to discuss the matter with a view to finding solutions that are acceptable for all parties. It is time for the Nigerian football authorities to wake up and show what good governance really means by putting up measures that would protect the contracts entered into between Football Clubs and Football Players in Nigeria because contractual stability is of paramount importance in football, from the perspectives of clubs, players, and the entire public.

Football clubs and club management should always bear in mind that football players are the main actor on the stage when it comes to the round leather game.  It is therefore our honest believe that if club managements enter into social dialogue with football players and other relevant stakeholders in the football arena in Nigeria, the shameful and disturbing upheavals resulting from breach of contracts would be curbed and eternally crucified.

We conclude by highlighting the very massive role played by social dialogue after the ruling in Bosman Case. After the Bosman case FIFA and UEFA negotiated new transfer regulations with the European Commission and came out of it successfully. The Commission had required that new regulations were to be in accordance with EU-law, yet FIFA and UEFA convinced the Commission that professional football needed special provisions because of the specificity of the sector.

The Commission agreed to this provided that those specificities were agreed upon with the representative organisation of the workers, International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPro). In 2001 the new FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players came into force. The main specificities were the protected period for players’ contracts, the transfer windows and the prohibition to terminate a contract unilaterally during the season.

If through social dialogue such feats were attained at the highest level of soccer governance, it is a big possibility even more here under the current regime of the NPFL regime administered by the LMC and NFF. We urge all parties to embrace, adopt and explore the concept of social dialogue as an everlasting panacea to the spate of breach of football contracts in Nigeria.

•Amobi Ezeaku, Esq. is Legal Adviser, Nigeria players Union, National Association of Nigeria Professional Footballers (NANPF). Your comments and reactions are welcome. Please send to 08038338272, 08158461730 or by e-mail to amobi.ezeaku@yahoo.com

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 2, 2016

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