The Nigerian Premier Football league has run over the past few years without sponsorship deals or television rights; which are usually the main sources of revenue for professional leagues.

According to FIFA, a ful­ly professional league is one in which all adult players are paid a salary that they can live on and do not need additional sources of income. This salary should be a living wage in the nation where the league is based, and prefera­bly around or above the average or median national wage. The professionalism of the league should also extend to sufficient contact hours, valid contracts and facilities, equipment, expenses and other support as necessary to allow full-time pursuit of ca­reer in the sport. It also involves having academies and all other support sports.

Virtually all the conditions listed above are non-existent in the NPFL.

The NPFL is worth just over $16 million dollars, and releases an estimated average of 2 million naira ($2500) monthly in maintenance to clubs in the league.

For comparison, Egyptian team Al-Ahly boasts a net worth of $35 million, while the South African team Mamelodi Sundowns is worth about $24 million.

Similarly, the South African PSL is worth over $126 million and earns $500 million in television rights over a five year period with satellite broadcaster, SuperSport, being the biggest sponsors.

The PSL also allocates each club more than R2 million ($138,000) in month­ly grants.

The Egyptian league is worth over $147 million, and allocates LE3.5 million ($143,274) monthly to the top clubs, and statistically, attracts the biggest stadium crowds in Africa and the Middle East.

The Federal Government on its part blames the reckless nature of hedge investors and argues that the maintenance culture of private backers is insecure, based on momentary cash flows, and subject to the financial whims of their owners; which has forced it to step in to prevent the total collapse of the league.

A position reinforced by the unfortunate decision by Mastourides, Abiola and co. to disband the top teams in the league in order to force government backing. 

A move which, with hindsight, backfired spectacularly.

Espousing the reverse, is the owner of Jos City Raiders FC, Hon Lumumba Dah Adeh; who insists that the sorry state of affairs in the league is mostly caused by broad governmental oversight. 

“The state of the Nigerian football league is pathetic. There is nothing regular about the league. There is no consistency. It has been reduced to a patronage system. Appointment of referees and match commissioners is ridden with corruption. League titles are won even before kick-off.

“Where are Abiola Babes, Udoji United, Ranchers Bees, Gabros, JC Raiders, Iwuanyanwu National and Stationary Stores? These are clubs that were well run by private individuals but they couldn’t survive the corrupt system. They couldn’t compete with government clubs that spend money as if money is going out of fashion.

“I tell you no privately owned club can survive in Nigeria. Nigerian football clubs can be thick only if corporate organisations with integrity can come in to sponsor them. For now, government clubs are being used as conduit pipes to siphon public funds,” he noted.

The only way out is for gov­ernments to hand off the running of football. 

In a real professional environ­ment, the government does not own clubs but provides enabling logis­tics for private investors to invest in club ownership.

However, not everyone shares this dim view of the current NPFL and indeed even see vast upgrades in infrastructure, compared to the glory days.

“There is undeniable advancement in the NPFL; it is not as if it is what we had before, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.” says Dimeji Lawal.

“I think the major chal­lenge is the travelling arrange­ments where players will have to navigate through thousands of kilometres just to play games. It is very unprofessional.

“Also, we have to talk of spon­sorship; when the government owns clubs, they will hardly attract sponsorship to the league because everyone knows that government business is no one’s business.

Similarly, Babatunde Ogunja, ex-Green Eagles player and Chairman of Sunshine Stars FC, believes modern football players plying their trade in the NPFL lack certain football techniques despite better sports infrastructure.

“Football is a game of goals. Scoring goals and winning is the beauty of football, but unfortunately, players these days are not goal-hungry,”

“It’s almost as if they have it too good nowadays, because both teams play without focus, they play as if they do not want to win, no anxious moments, the two teams will inevitably fail to convert most goal-scoring chances.” He lamented.

The new sports minister Ibrahim Gusau is a man with his work certainly cut out for him. 

For now however, there can be no better place to start than at the grassroots.