From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, on Thursday, described the Nigerian Football League as being “on its deathbed.”
This is even as he disclosed that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), under the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has received in excess of N15 billion.
Speaking at the 51st session of the State House Ministerial Briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team, at the Aso Rock Villa, Dare, also said the shutdown of the Abuja head office of the League Management Company on Thursday was the government’s last resort to salvage the country’s football.
Recall the operatives of the Nigeria Police Force had stormed the office of the League Management Company in the capital city of Abuja to seal it up.
The Federal Government had dissolved the LMC as the recognised operator of the Nigeria Professional Football League last Friday.
The Permanent Secretary of of the ministry, Ismaila Abubakar, had announced that the government no longer recognised the LMC as the sole agency licensed to organise and regulate the Nigeria Professional Football League.
He premised the decision on the alleged maladministration of the tournament.
But fielding questions on the issue, the Sports Minister said the dissolution of the LMC was delayed for four months to allow for a workable solution.
Dare said “As at May 25, 2022. Mr. President approved the dissolution of the LMC and directed that the NFF should set up an Interim Management Company because of clear evidence that our league was in dire straits. Between May and August, we did not issue a directive because we wanted the Premier League to complete its season without any disruption. But also, during that period, the Ministry made efforts to speak with those in charge. We never got any response.
“As we sit here, our league is on its deathbed. We know the nature of our domestic league. And just yesterday (Wednesday) I got a letter from the club owners. I met with them two weeks ago. I also met with the female football leaders. There’s a letter that came on September 1, I only got it yesterday stating clearly that they have numerous problems with the LMC running the league. Unpaid emoluments, referees are not paid, coaches are not paid.
“So, in May 2022, there was a presidential directive and as a ministry, we applied reasonable judgment and delayed that communication. But at a point when the league ended, and we saw the continuous decline of our football, we thought it was the right time to take the necessary action. And that was what we did. There’s no connection between that decision with the NFF election, it stands alone.”
The Minister who was at the State House with some of the country’s ace athletes including world record holder, Tobi Amusan and gold medalist, Ese Brume, thanked the President for being “supportive” to the sector, prompting Nigeria’s recent exploits in the athletics world stage.
“Mr. President has been extremely supportive. And I know what I’m talking about. When you run a budget of N2.1 billion for the Ministry of Youth and Sports. And then you have two or three major international championships, your budget is an envelope, you can’t go beyond it.
“Each time we have to write a letter to go to Mr. President for presidential intervention. And not just our ministry, other ministries and other ministers also asked for the intervention. It’s not easy to get that kind of funding. But each time I’ve approached Mr. President, in the nick of time, we’ve got approval for this funding, and it has been a major part of our success,” he said.
On youth development, the minister said he has only received N10bn of the allocated N25bn for the National Youth Investment Fund.
He noted that the fund has so far disbursed loans between N250,000 to N3m to 31,000 youths nationwide based on the ideas they forwarded in their business proposals.
“Our youth development, of course, I can tell you off the cuff that we’ve only received N10bn out of the N25bn for the first year for the National Youth Investment Fund.
“We’ve been able to disburse to over 31,000 youths. Normally there’s a process. We sent out an email. You have to reply to us to say ‘thank you I accept.’ Once we don’t get feedback, we keep your name. So over 45,000 have been approved for that loan, only about 31,000 have responded. And the funds have gone to them, between N250,000 to N3 million, whatever you get is based on the idea of the business that you put forward,” he explained.
Dare also lamented that although jobs are abundant for the youth, there is a skills/degree mismatch to fill existing roles. Consequently, the ministry has trained 6,000 out of 61,000 youths on cybersecurity as one of the 15 critical skills required by the Nigerian economy.
He said “I think the most important thing is the research we did as a ministry. We looked at the problem of skills mismatch. There are jobs out there for our youth, but the degrees they have cannot fit in for those jobs. And we found out that the jobs available in cybersecurity in Africa alone is 1.5 million.
“In this country alone, more than 350,000. That is, there are organisations looking for a certified cybersecurity expert. So, the ministry, last month, partnered with Halogen and when we put out the call after three days, 61,000 youths applied for cybersecurity training.
“As we speak, we’ve trained about 6000, they have graduated, they will get their certification. We can’t train this 61,000 because there’s a cost implication, but we’ll take them in batches.”