GTI : Our plan is to make NPFL the best in Africa
Strategic partners of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), GTI Assets Management and Trust Limited
says it will not relent on it’s efforts at changing the narratives of the country’s Premier League even as it announced that it’s aim is to make the League not only attractive but the best in the entire African continent.
Executive Director of the company, Nelson Ine gave the assurance Thursday during a media parley with journalists held at the Group’s Corporate Headquarters in Lagos where he gave a score card of what they’ve achieved since their involvement in the country’s Premier League and their projections for the future.
According to him, since the involvement of GTI in the running of the NPFL in the past three years, the league is now better managed and beginning to attract more followers.
While acknowledging the abundance of football talents in the country, he stressed that with more investors coming into the league and investing in club sides; the clubs will grow to become real business entities and in the process, provide job opportunities to Nigerians thereby improving the economy.
He emphasised that the development of the NPFL rest in the hands of Nigerians and not on outsiders, hence the need for private sector ownership of the clubs.
“The operation of the league so far is running fine. It shows that the future of our league is bright. But I still believe there is a lot of room for improvement
“All we need to do is to grow the clubs to become business entities, driven by effective and efficient administrative management as we have in Europe.
“The whole idea is to make our league number one in Africa and we’re vigorously heading to that.
“The growth of the NPFL is in our hands. We should not expect foreigners to come and grow our league for us. We just have to promote our own league.
“One thing that will take our League to where we all desire to be is transition to private ownership and management of clubs as is done in Europe.
“We’ve had it like that before and we knew what we got out of it and we expect to have it like that again because that aligns with the international best practices all over the world,” he added.
In his remarks, the Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer GTI Group, Abubakar Lawal said the company is encouraged by the progress the league has made in the last three years, promising that they’ll do more.
” So, far it’s been very exciting, rough and tough. Very exciting because the focus is very clear. We know exactly where we are going. We know what we want to achieve and luckily we’re being encouraged by the results we are getting. It’s been very interesting and a wonderful experience.
“Nigeria has everything that it takes to make our league world class. We have gotten everything. We have gotten the players, good weather, the population and the passion. So, the market is here; everthing is here, we are putting the piece and pieces together and we are excited because we are getting the results. And it’s unbelievable that just under three years,We are almost getting there and we’ll surly get there”, he assured.
Speaking further on the economic benefit of NPFL, the GTI boss added: “We’re Nigerians, we’re the ones responsible for building our economy and what we’re doing is a components of Gross Domestic Products (GDP). Everything we need to turn the situation around and change the narratives of our football ecosystem is in our handIt’s in our hands; no foreigner whether British, American or Russian will help us to build Nigeria. We have to roll our sleeves from all the sectors, be it agriculture, education, health, marintine. We have to do it ourselves”, he concluded.
