The League Management Company said on Friday that it would increase the remuneration of match officials for the 2013/2014 season to curb external inducement.
The LMC Chairman, Nduka Irabor, gave the assurance in Abuja at the 2013/2014 Match Commissioners Seminar ahead of the new season.
Irabor said the rates paid before was not good enough as it encouraged officials to succumb to pressures from football club administrators.
“We have set a trend, which we do not hope to relax that we will pay indemnities early enough.
“We do not want to put a stress on your own personal finances because you are doing a public job.
“Even when we continue doing that, we look at the appropriateness of what we pay.
“So, the rates today are really being considered because without shame or provocation, they are not good enough.
“We are paying rates that tempt the weak, the undisciplined to be even more tempted by outside inducements.
“We will play our part to reduce the possibilities of being tempted by meeting your basic costs.
“As a result of that, at the commencement of the new season, we will be announcing new rates.”
The LMC chairman added that the importance of the match commissioner in a game could not be overemphasised.
Irabor said: “You are the eyes, ears, nose of football administrators. We would rely on your reports even before the referee’s account of what happened.
“We rely on reports more than even the live streaming coverage because it is not everything that the camera sees.
“Besides, the cameras might see and reflect the true picture of what happened but the cameras do not have the brain and senses to interpret what is going on.
“It is for that reason that your position of importance in the game cannot be under played at all.”
Irabor, however, expressed regrets that the 2013/2014 Nigeria Professional Football League was not starting early.
He said the league has been run for long without following licensing rules, which the LMC would correct before the new season to be delayed until after the African Nations Championship.
The LMC said only the clubs, which meet the N100 million bank guarantee, demand would participate in the 2013/2014 NPFL League with a December 31, 2013 deadline.
Irabor said: “We have run the premier league for so many years without keeping to the rules of licensing that we met in the books.
“This seminar is very important because it marks the beginning of a new season.
“The essence is to brainstorm on what was not done in the last season, and what needs to be done to correct such.”
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