The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Hon. Godfrey Gaiya, has advised the Nigeria Football Federation to concentrate more on cooperate funding and private sector participation in the financing of Nigerian football, which he described as a juicy and attractive brand since the Super Eagles won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.
Speaking on the controversies bedeviling the Football House after the Super Eagles won the last Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa, the legislator fumed at the situation where the NFF has been crying for lack of funds instead of utilizing the advantage of being African champions to woo sponsors to invest in Nigerian football.
Gaiya also wants the NFF not to be over-reliant on government subventions, which according to him, “will never be enough to fund all the eight national football teams that the NFF caters for in their fiscal budget.”
He, however believes that all these funding problems and others would be finally put to an end when the NFF bill is passed into law by the National Assembly.
He said: “I believe that the Nigeria Football Federation has every potentials to be making substantial money from private sector.
“But I keep saying that you don’t get sponsors for a bad product.
“Before Afcon (Africa Cup of Nations) 2013, Nigeria was never here nor there.
“Some small football playing nations were even rated high above Nigeria in FIFA rankings then (before Afcon 2013).
“So if you are ranked 53 in the FIFA World rankings and you are competing with nations ranked numbers one to 10, you should know that very serious sponsors would prefer to go and spend their money on the best 10 nations in the world.
“But now that our ranking is improving, I believe that they (the NFF) can get better deal and by that get more money.
“As long as they can make money outside the government, the better for the NFF.
“I also keep telling the NFF that as regards the issue of funding, shine your eyes, there are better monies to be made outside government.
“But it is like it is easier to go to the government to beg and beg for money.
“But the NFF should shine their eyes, do what is right and put their house in order.
“Because no sponsor would want to put his money in a house of rancour and where litigations are abound.
“I think these are the little things that are discouraging and scaring away sponsors from investing their money in Nigerian football.”
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