The Sports Minister and Chairman National Sports Committee (NSC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, has expressed his delight on the success of the League Management Company (LMC) headed by Nduka Irabor, to sign a N5.4billion Television Right deal with SuperSport.
The minister said: “I am very excited today. The reason I am excited is that today we are celebrating what is possible in Nigeria. Today, I can say it loud and clear that this is the same League that less than a year ago we were asking clubs to pay the indemnities of referees. This is the same League less than a year ago that a company in this country said it is worthless. And this same league today has just signed a TV Right deal worth N5.4billion.”
He expressed his gratitude to the NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, who he said can confidently blow his trumpet anywhere he goes because there is the need for him to blow the trumpet going by the series of achievements.
“The reason is that when we were struggling with what to do with the League and my argument as Minister of Sports was that no matter how much we want to argue, that football has developed in this country is if we do not improve the quality of the Nigeria League and the Nigerian youths keep going to places like Sudan, Haiti, Malta, Azerbaijan and some other awkward places to play professional football, then we have not achieved anything.
“It is my responsibility to envision what is possible. It is my responsibility to communicate that vision. But it is your responsibility to make sure it happens.
Our own generation of the National Sports Commission (NSC) and Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are not fighting. We are making money for football.
“I thank Honourable Nduka Irabor very much. What else can I say. I thank you for your tenacity. I have seen you and your colleagues the way you have driven this with single mindedness as if your very life depended on it. Insinuations have been made. You have been attacked, you’ve been abused, you’ve been insulted. But you were a gentle man all through it. I want to thank you and your colleagues for this achievement,”the minister said.
