The Executive Director of GTI Asset Management, the strategic partner of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Nelson Ine has described the NPFL as a goldmine and a heaven for potential investors.
In this exclusive interview with RAYMOND NWADUBA, the GTI boss let it all out as he spoke on a variety of issues as it affects the Nigerian league. Enjoy….
How soon GTI can recoup investments made
We are not running charity. For us, the league itself, what we have done is to reposition the league and we expect to build on the gains of the league in terms of the good performance of the league. Ideally, leagues are supposed to be revenue generating because of the values we offer to various stakeholders in the football ecosystem. So, yes very soon, TNFF has invested, GTI has invested, and we hope to recoup returns on investments in the future. But how soon, I’m sure with what we have done, we believe in no short distance we should be able to have returns.
Stregthening broadcast arrangements and visibility
When Multi Choice were broadcasting matches in the league they were not covering all the games. Infact, more matches are being broadcasted now compared to before. But a lot of you know that you can watch NPFL matches live on StarTimes and on our patterns, Propel for live streams. But you can view most of the matches on StarTimes and StarTimes have been trying, they’ve been up and doing in terms of the coverage of the games.
Read Also: Prosperity Cup 2025: Crusaders FC, Bayelsa Stars Queens Stroll Past Opponents To Clinch Third Prizes
Television rights value of the NPFL
Television rights value of leagues grow over time. If you look at the whole system, we are trying to revive and transform the system to the level where all stakeholders will become very attached to the league. And you’ve agreed with me that it’s a gradual process. So that’s what we are trying to achieve. But overtime the value of this league will grow not just only in terms of media broadcast rights even in terms of sponsorships and other aspects of the league is going to definitely improve. And you can see a lot of the fans are coming into the stadium now. You can look at the level of competitive balance in the league. One good thing about the Nigerian league, it’s not a league where one team will dominate everybody. As a matter of fact, a good example is that the league has shown this season that no team is unbeatable home or away. It’s a function of you play good football on the day of the match and you win. So even if an away team comes to your home and played better the chances are high that they will win. Looking at this season, there is a lot of away wins even draws that have shocked people. Who ever believed that in recent times Heartland will go and beat Rangers 2-0 given their positions on the league table. Again some teams you expect to use home advantage to run over their opponents it hasn’t worked like that. And then on a good day when a team is also doing well like in the case of Ikorodu City beating a team 6-0 and also winning 3-0 in their next match, that’s 9 goals in two games 6 points. That’s tough, but there are not even the ones at the top.
How can also look at the situation where the relegation bound team Lobi Stars also got a draw with number one on the table Remo. So that’s what a football league is all about. And it’s not peculiar to our league. Leagues where there’s competitive balance you see those kind of surprises. Look at the Champions League the results, where the teams that we thought had already lost almost turned the table around. That is football. One of the unique features of any league is the competitive balance and the unpredictability of outcome of matches which this league has seriously demonstrated. It’s also a function of the integrity of the league and the improvements made. We won’t say we gotten to a perfect level, there’s still room for improvement and we are still striving to improve in various areas of the league which we still need to work on.
Reasons investors should bring their money to the NPFL
Any investor coming into the NPFL is sure to hit a goldmine. It’s a virgin investment hub with huge potentials that you can’t find elsewhere in the world. You can imagine a billionaire who is used to paying $300,000 or more per player weekly wage in Europe investing in Nigeria which has the talents of international standard and you don’t even need up to $10,000 monthly per player for the same level of quality. He will be making a kill if he exports these players to his club in Europe and from there market them for humongous sums. This is what we are trying to achieve because the premier league all over the world are owned by multi billionaires who just have clubs because of passion for the game and also as pet project for their image branding. We want the likes of Dangote, Adenuga, Otedola, to own NPFL clubs which is very strategic and crucial to the growth of the league. Those that invested many years ago in the English Premier League, EPL are smiling to the banks today.
Efforts geared towards eradicating misconducts, bad publicity and actions that bring the league to disrepute
There are certain rules guiding the NPFL and these rules are enforced by the board of the NPFL. Let’s be honest with ourselves. Let’s give the NPFL board a lot of credit and the NFF for all they have done in that regard. Of course we are all working together as partners in progress. Teams that have erred has not been spared, whether players or officials. But one thing Nigerians must know, there us no way you can completely eradicate these things you can only minimize them to the barest minimum because football involves emotions even at the world cup level and other leagues you see some of these things happen. Even at the highest level of football. Whether it’s the EPL, La Liga, Champions League and even the world cup because interests are involved, emotions are involved. At a point some people cannot control their emotions, it could be fans, players or even officials. That is the human element. That is the unpredictability of the human nature. Social scientists will tell you the human nature is unpredictable. The human behaviour is not like the physical object where you say one plus one is equal to two. The only thing is that you try to control situations around human behaviour and curb excesses which is what the league has been doing so far. Sometimes some of these things will occur but the question is when they occur does the league body take the necessary actions to correct it and to serve as deterrent to forestall future occurrence? The answer is yes, they are doing their best in that regards and no one has been spared across all levels, players, officials. You agree with me that compared to where we are coming from we have made a lot of significant progress. But we are still saying that there is still quite a lot to be done to achieve more.
Talks about slapping offenders on the wrist
No I don’t agree with that. Again, people are entitled to their own opinions. If you subject the situation to let’s say five persons to look at it, the way they are going to react will be different. They are looking at the same situation but the five of them will give you different versions of the same thing they all saw. So these opinions when you look at the fundamentals and substance of what has really happened, I believe that with what we have done with what is playing out, there is still aot of room for improvement but again you can’t stop people from having their own opinion whether positive or negative. But you will largely agree with me that opinions and perceptions have been more positive concerning the improvements in the league than negatives. But that doesn’t mean that the negatives should be discarded. You look at it, the thing is that it only opens your eyes to see other spaces that you need to improve on.
Efforts to bring back the fans
Haven’t you observed that the number of fans coming into the Stadium to watch games have actually increased significantly compared to some years back. Again, we always want more because when you look at the fans watching matches both the ones at the venue and the ones outside the venue and in most cases the once outside the venue are supposed to be far far larger than the once inside the venue. Inside the venue you have limited space but outside there is unlimited space and you need both numbers to grow the league. But you will agree with me both numbers are increasing. So what do we need to do to enthrone this, the entertainment aspect of the game has improved, the officiating integrity of the league has improved, the competitive balance of the game has also improved. So as these things improve it will also boost the confidence of fans and attraction to the league. We have been working with the NPFL board in the last few years when we came in as strategic partners. We know where we met the league and know where it is today. Nigerians can see where it is but we are saying that that is just a sign that there is the positive trajectory for the growth of this league at the moment. We strongly believe that this league is going to grow and as it grows we will attract more fans and the value of the league will continue to grow and all stakeholders will benefit from it. So it’s just for us to keep doing the right thing, ensuring that the officials, fans and teams are all doing the right thing. We’re also making room for seminars, education, training is very important and effective communication reporting, those are some of the fundamental efforts we have made to change the narrative and attract a lot of interest.
Efforts to address contracts and wage issues in the NPFL
This has to do with continuous communication. We talk a lot, we share our views and when we have observations we bring it to their notice. But it’s the responsibility of the board to enforce certain compliances. What we do is to provide the necessary support in terms of advise, provide the funding and in terms of looking at the structure of the whole system realigning the structure to ensure that the system is working seamlessly and achieving results. When we have discussions or observations particularly with the NPFL board they respond and try to do what is necessary to correct whatever errors or complaints.
Thanks for sparing us your time.
You’re welcome.
