NSC, NFF hold strategic meeting to advance Nigerian football, hand Eagles coach new contract

* Say WAFCON  preparations on top gear
By Harry Awurumibe, Editor-in-Chief, Abuja                                                               The leadership of the National Sports Commission and the Nigeria Football Federation rose from a strategic meeting on Tuesday, June 23, with decisions aimed at securing the future of Nigerian football and set the foundations for sustainable development. The meeting held at the NSC Headquarters had in attendance, the NSC Chairman Mallam Shehu Dikko, the Director-General Hon. Bukola Olopade, the NFF President Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau, NFF General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi and a representative of the league Nasiru Saidu as well as Special Adviser to NSC Chairman and former NFF General Secretary Bar. Musa Amadu. They had earlier met with the Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle.

Addressing the Media later, the NSC Chairman reeled out groundbreaking agreements and strategic policy decisions that will put the nation’s football on a new pedestal. Top on the list is that with the Commission’s expected intervention, prize money for the 2026/27 season will be N2.5b with the winners pocketing at least N1b and the second and third-placed teams smiling home with N500m and N300m respectively. Consequently participating teams will get graduated prize monies based on their positions on the table. In Mallam Dikko’s estimation, this should encourage the clubs to be more professional and boost the sponsorship drive for the elite league.

His words, “Beyond the prize monies, we have agreed to put structures in place that will ensure that the least a player will earn in the league going forward is N2m. This salary cap may not happen this coming season but in subsequent seasons, that should be the target.”

He continued, “What we are doing is in tandem with the Renewed Hope and Shared Prosperity disposition of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR. The President wants the league to be one of the best in the continent. We are only his foot soldiers. We have agreed in this meeting to work in this direction to deliver on this vision and, in tandem with the RHINSE framework, we are ready to intervene directly to ensure a proper reset of the league.”

As a former chairman of the League Management Company (LMC), Mallam Dikko should know better hence he hammered on the need to be stringent on the club licensing regulations. Under club licensing regulations in Nigeria, clubs are expected to meet six minimum criteria namely sporting, infrastructure, personnel, legal, financial and business development to be licensed.

He said, “The league is the foundation of our football. We have agreed at this meeting to be stricter with the club licensing regulations. If it is only ten clubs that are qualified to play in the league so be it. The club licensing is all about infrastructure, youth development, financial management, corporate structures and other things that make for a proper running of a professional league like appropriate remuneration of the players, sound financial base and set foundation to attract private sector investments etc. With what we are committed to put on the ground, clubs should be able to meet these conditions with proper focus.”

Another notable decision reached is the need to bring the league back on television

“The league has to be on TV. There is a budget line to support and drive this purpose under the NSC budget and we are not paying mere lip service to this. We are going to support the production of contents not just for the league but for other sports. You have to control the production so that you can have a good product to sell to the buyers (the television stations)”, he noted.

The meeting had also reached an agreement on a new improved contract for the Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle.

“We engaged with Eric Chelle and settled on new improved terms for the coach and his staff. We are going to increase his take-home and take up responsibility for his support staff. We have also agreed that Eric and his staff will take charge of the U23 national team. This is because we are building a team for the future. We want to put in place a team that will do well at 2027 AFCON, the 2028 Olympics as well as the 2030 World Cup and future AFCONs, so the U23 should be the base foundation hence Eric taking over the team would ensure seamless transitions..

“The issue is that we have learnt from mistakes of the past and want to use it to pilot Nigerian football to greater heights. We want to start infusing younger players into the team”, he said.

The meeting also rose with lofty plans for the women’s game.

“We will provide the enablers for the Super Falcons to retain the WAFCON title. Furthermore, the NSC and NFF has collaborated to put together a Committee to raise funds for the women’s game as well. In subsequent meetings, we will also engage the stakeholders in the women’s game and take sweeping decisions on the women’s league’, he added.

Ultimately, the NSC Chairman echoed the commitment of the administration to create the requisite enabling environment and aggressively pursue private sector involvement to support the Federal Government in repositioning Nigerian football in particular and sports in general.

In his remarks, the Director-General Hon. Bukola Olopade pointed out that the meeting was the beginning of brighter days for Nigerian sports.

“Frankly, what has happened here today is the rebirth of our football from the fabric to the elite. When we say we are resetting the entire sports ecosystem, this is it. You can’t build from top to bottom. We are trying to rebuild our football from bottom to top”, he said.

Earlier, the NFF President Alhaji Gusau had captured the need for the meeting so as to fashion out a seamless future for Nigerian football.

“We have the AFCON and World Cup qualifiers coming soon. Just as there is the Women AFCON in July. Then there is the need to boost our league. We came to discuss with the NSC on the way forward. We need the full backing of the NSC to succeed hence this conversation leading to this milestone decisions towards the advancement of our football”, he observed.

In the closing remarks, the NFF General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi, called on the media and all stakeholders to align and support these initiatives of the NSC and NFF and ensure that Nigerian football remains on the positive lane.