Multinational companies, banks, industries, corporate bodies and government agencies in Nigeria have been urged to resume direct sponsorship of football clubs in the country, Sports247 reports.
This charge came from a former veteran in the Nigerian domestic scene, Taiwo Oloyede, who recalled how clubs that were owned by big companies used to rule the league and make waves across Africa.
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Oloyede reminisced about the good old days of the Nigerian league while speaking during ‘Hot Seat’ segment of Inside Naija Sports, a live streaming programme on YouTube, which runs from 2:15pm every Friday in the studio of Sports247 Naija.
He recounted great impacts of the past that were enacted by clubs like Leventis United and Water Corporation of Ibadan, as well as Flash Flamingoes and New Nigeria Bank of Benin City, Exide of Eruwa, Vasco Da Gama of Enugu, JIB Rocks of Jos, UNTL of Kaduna, Eagle Cement of Port Harcourt and Mobil Pegassus of Eket among others.
Oloyede also mentioned how Lagos-based teams like Stationery Stores, Julius Berger, NEPA, Eko Hotel, African Continental Bank (ACB), IBWA Sharp Shooters, Union Bank and NITEL United ensured that Nigeria’s best players could stay at home and be financially stable in various clubs.
The former invitee to the junior and senior national teams reckoned that the absence of adequate pay in the Nigerian league has led to constant mass exodus of good players.
Oloyede pointed out, “Our league players are all hurstling for money. Once they play a season or even half and they score five goals or so, they will start looking for how to leave the country.
“They don’t mind going to Sudan, Oman or Lebanon to go and play, because they are looking for money. You can imagine that the home-based national team captain, who aldo led Remo Stars to the league title last season, has gone to Oman.”
While affirming that the mass exodus of Nigerian players is due to poor economic realities in the league, Oloyede stressed that foreign transfers need to be controlled in terms of the frequency of such exits and destinations of the players.
He added, “This is due to the fact that the clubs and players are looking for money; but it has to be done properly. In our days, we went to countries like Belgium, France, Holland and other countries that have top leagues.
“At the same time, Nigerian clubs have to wake up in terms of what they pay their players. You only read on paper that they are paying some players two million or three million, but the money is not seen in their bank accounts.”
The former midfielder continued with a charge to officials of Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) to put in place strict rules that will ensure remuneration of players is done clearly and properly all the time.
“The NPFL are doing well, but they have to do more. Our administrators have to check all the facts and tell the truth about what the clubs are doing.
“If a player can really get two million or three million a month in Nigeria, I think that should be enough to live with … compared to how we were collecting N500 or N5,000 in our days.
“In those days, they would even split the money into three parts to pay you in stipends, but we were comfortable with it at that time,” said the one fondly called ‘Skippo.’
He concluded with a charge for a return of the days of corporate involvement in various aspects of football, which he believes would help the NPFL reduce the current spate of excessive departures by the league’s best players to obscure countries.
“In our days, there were also many companies that supported football with sponsorship packages or even owned some clubs. You could even work in their office after you retire.
“It’s things like that we need now to stop our players from going to play in countries like Oman or Lebanon. It will also help them maintain continuity for continental assignments,” Oloyede reasoned.
