Africa’s sports journalists former president, Mitchel Obi has thumbed-up the strategic partnership that exists between GTI and Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye-led Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL).
Speaking during the well-attended IMC Media Parley at GTI office in Lagos, the highly travelled and legendary sports journalist said the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) is undergoing a revolution that will see our beautiful game rise again in the continent. He charged the sporting media to support the laudable partnership between GTI and IMC and ensure that NPFL is given media visibility with their reports.
Obi further noted that for the league to be accelerated to the next level, the sporting media need to put it on the front burner, insisting that the league is owned by Nigerians and must be well promoted and protected.
“The NPFL is owned by Nigerians and we must promote and protect it; therefore in the next few years, it will become as competitive as any other league in the world, if every stakeholder plays its role effectively as GTI is currently doing.
“We can recall that the English Premier League was rebranded and repackaged through the efforts of its stakeholders in Britain and now it is the most glamorous league in the world.
“We can also do the same in Nigeria as I thank GTI’s Group Managing Director Abubakar Lawal for graciously using his company to actualize this great dream for the Nigerian league.
“I call on other stakeholders which include the sporting media to be part of this historic movement that is aimed at turning around NPFL into a fruitful venture since we have close to 140 million Nigerian youths that follow this beautiful game.
“Even the active talented footballers which abound in the country cannot be ignored in this regard, thus the sporting media must passionately beam their searchlight on them,” Obi stated.
He further commended the cordial relationship between GTI and IMC saying the romance between both parties has given NPFL great hope that our football development is destined for greatness.
“GTI must be commended for the role it is playing and we are already seeing the dividend of its strategic partnership with the IMC.
“For us in the media, we need to support the project wholeheartedly which has rightly been dubbed our national asset.
“I’m not in doubt on what the outcome of this romance will be because it will surely impact positively on the league going forward if we do the right thing,” Obi stated.
