Following a review of the incident of Sunday, March 8 in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Matchday 23 fixture between Nasarawa United and Katsina United, the League Management Company (LMC) has amongst other stiff sanctions ordered that no matches shall be hosted at the Lafia Township Stadium until medical requirements and measures stipulated in the League Rules are fully complied with.
The LMC also wrote to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) requesting that the Match Commissioner in the said fixture Mr Christian Mbah from Enugu State Football Association, be withdrawn permanently from further participation in NPFL matches, for failure to perform his statutory duty to ensure all requirements including Medical personnel and equipment are in place before allowing the match to go ahead and for also failing to submit his match report within the stipulated time frame despite the aggravated incident from the match.
The NFF in another letter by the LMC was also requested to trim the number of those selected as Match Commissioners in NPFL matches and retain only those who have demonstrated a high level of competence in enforcing provisions of the NFF Club Licensing Requirements. This is in line with the on-going review of strategies to improve existing medical protocols and general security at NPFL Match venues.
Other Match Commissioners were reminded that they must on no account start a match where the full compliments of medics are not available at the venue.
In a related development, a tripartite high powered committee of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports, NFF, LMC and other key Stakeholders would be constituted by the NFF in consultation with the Minister of Youth and Sports. The Committee would review the incident in Lafia and make recommendations on how to improve matchday medical services and general security of players, officials and fans among other steps aimed at improving the NPFL matchday organization and experience across all venues.
