Controversy over houses, $4m TV rights

Poor in positive results, but rich in crisis, Nigeria football's perennial friends - crisis and controversy - look set to rear their ugly heads over the N200m house the Nigeria Football League recently claimed it bought in Abuja.

Managers of football clubs in the country are also spoiling for a fight with the NFL because they have yet to get a dime as their cut out of the $4 million the organisation got from Super Sport, a South African company, for television rights to broadcast the Nigerian league as it is done elsewhere.

Also, staff of the NFL claimed that they have not been paid this year in spite of the huge amount of money the NFL collected from its sponsor, Globacom.

But Alhassan Yakmut, the NFL scribe said that while some of the allegations are not totally untrue, they could have been blown out of proportion.

The NFL recently told the world that they have bought a house in Abuja worth N200 million, which would serve as its administrative office.

But months after, they are still administering the league from a rented apartment.

Head of the NFL, Onyiuki Obaseki could not comment on the situation. Having been recently upgraded in the Benin Kingdom hierarchy, he was said to be incommunicado as tradition demands and would not be available till Monday.

But Mr. Yakmut dismissed the allegation. "If you come to Abuja, I will show you all the documents that relate to the building. The reason why we have not moved is because we need about N25 million to furnish the building and we don't want to dip into our purse to fund the project. That is why we have not moved to our house," he said.

On the claims by staff that they have not been paid this year, Yakmut said the NFL does not owe anybody, challenging those staff, who claimed they are being owed to come forward.

As for the television rights, Yakmut agreed that the contract was faulty. He admitted that it was wrong for the board to have signed television rights' agreement with SuperSports through a consultant instead of dealing directly with the television station.

Unlike in other countries where football clubs get a percentage of the television rights, most Nigerian club owners are not even aware that NFL got any money.

"We don't even know whether the NFL has collected any TV rights money from anybody so we haven't collected anything from the NFL. You should call the NFL first to find this out before calling the clubs," Felix Anyansi-Agwu, the chairman of Enyimba FC of Aba said.

Ignatius Okeahialam, chairman, Heartland FC of Owerri spoke in similar vein.

He said: "We have not collected any money from the NFL. As chairman of the club, if there is any money to be collected definitely I would know about it."

Yakmut said the management of Total Promotion, a company based in Ilupeju, Lagos should be in a position to answer why the clubs are not getting money.

When Total Promotion was called on the phone, no one answered the call. However, one Mrs. Akerele eventually called back, but cut the line when she was asked why Total Promotion has not paid the clubs a dime out of the $4 million collected from SuperSports.

She also did not comment on why they are showing one Globacom league on the Nigerian Television Authority every Sunday and why they are currently showing old matches.

Yakmut said: "The deal with SuperSports is N144 million per annum, and it appreciates at 2.5 per cent annually. It has one more year to run, I will advise NFL not to renew it, there won't be (a) further deal through a third party. The deal is faulty."

Apart from the N10 million the club gets from the NFL/Globacom deal, they are not getting any other support from the body.

Football buffs blame this on the clubs reliance on state government funds, which they claimed are spent without accountability.