By Daily Sports on February 8, 2016

The other day, your authoritative sports portal Daily Sports exclusively published the names of football clubs that owe players and their debt profile to players and their coaches are in high heavens to the tune of N600,574,500. My anger boiled over and I was talking to nobody else than these cursed so called administrators that have subjected these boys to danger these odd years. The critical issues though self inflicted in our football today realistically makes my stomach turn for real vomit. No jokes!

Since that astonishing bombshell revelation by the General Secretary of the Nigeria Players Union, National Association of Nigeria Professional Footballers (NANPF), Comrade Austin Popo, I have not regained my appetite I instantly lost after reading the story over and over again.

Let me confess that when my ardent Chelsea of London supporter son noticed my mood and enquired, I pretended that all is well. But he insisted. Truth being that I was not primed to tell him the embarrassment that is the Nigerian league, because of the consequences thereafter. He did everything to win me over to his London team but I stick to Akwa United FC and Nasarawa FC. My panic came to pass when l finally I revealed to him my source of depression. Pronto... he logged on, read and was thoroughly alarmed.

According to him, he got the alert from Daily Sports but delayed to log on. Almost 14 years old, already a six footer, he repeated his earlier reason why he chose to keenly follow Chelsea because they don’t owe their players and you can easily purchase their jerseys and assorted materials in the stores.  

He oftentimes asks me why jerseys of Nigerian clubs are not in the market. I parries it each time and tell him it will be a discussion for another day, but till today, no answer and whenever a discussion is tilted towards Nigerian clubs my heartbeat increases and I will also be at unease, praying silently that he won’t remind me. 

The list is worrisome because all the teams in the country owe their players and coaches in millions. Honesty, I remained dazed that these players ply their trade in on empty stomach week in, week out, in a country that has no business with such shame it has unfortunately entrenched in the system on ground. The list is sad to behold. Log on to www.dailysportsng.com and see man’s inhumanity to fellow man in the story entitled Players Union releases list of debtor football clubs and how much each owes •Wants players, coaches paid before season begins News - Daily Sports Nigeria http://dailysportsng.com/news/detail.php?news=1688.

What happens in Nigeria remains absurd and cannot even dare take place in a concentration camp. Precisely, I am scandalised.

How on earth will people that run these clubs be comfortable seeing these young lads, most of them qualified to be their sons, nephews, cousins and all play football that is energy-sapping with unfilled bellies, while they use the funds meant for their welfare and upkeep solely for the education and sundry of their sons, daughters, girlfriends and families .This is to say the very least most evil personified.

Their distasteful acts have retarded the development of the game locally. It has rendered the Leagues in the country unattractive to the outside world, while Nigeria is supposed to be the final and most preferred destination of footballers that want to pursue their career in Africa. In short, it has further portrayed the country as a fraud. Yes, the sports sector cum football has over these years been a haven for corruption, which is never investigated. Little wonder therefore that elections into various FAs are a do-or-die affair. It is against that background that everybody is struggling to go into the FA so as to grab government money which for no reason is unaccounted for. It is the gloomy norm in Nigerian football!

However, the present leadership of the League Management Company headed by the very suave Shehu Dikko has been working round the clock to right these wrongs that have plagued our league. It is my belief that he will continue to take the bull by the horn as he is poised to salvage the NPFL as a model for other leagues to follow. All the segments in our local football must become viable forthwith.

All hands and necessary sanctions must be meted to any club that runs foul of the rules: no sacred cows! Dikko’s move to get brewing giants, Nigeria Breweries PLC, into the NPFL remains an excellent step in the right direction.

Truth is that Dikko needs our support and prayers. We must not fail this time. My suggestion is that we go along with teams that can meet their obligations to the players, coaches and up-to-date with other financial responsibilities enunciated in the statutes governing the league.

Let me say here that Dikko is in good company; he has a Minister of Sports that for once has no camp. If the NFF is not co-operating – which they must, of course – he has whom to tell because Solomon Dalong’s cardinal objective is to develop sports in the true sense of it.

The LMC must put its feet on the ground and insist that these debtor clubs pay their players and coaches substantially before the kick-off of the new season on February 21. There would be no justification why the clubs must not off-set these debts before the kick-off of the season. That is the only path to follow which will give fans and the dependents of these players and coaches the glimmer of hope that our leagues are ready for a brand new lease of life. Good luck, Shehu Dikko and company.

•Enyinnaya can be reached via 08055068145 (sms only) or by e-mail via sportzvictor@yahoo.com.au

Source Daily Sports

Posted February 8, 2016

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