Chairman of two-time African champions, Enyimba International, Felix Anyansi-Agwu says the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) must have its games televised live.
South African pay-tv broadcaster, SuperSport have since pulled the plug on a broadcast deal reached in 2013 to beam NPFL games live, leaving Africa’s largest economy without a televised domestic football league.
Anyansi-Agwu, head of Nigeria’s most successful club has now posited that it’s strange that the domestic football league in the country is not on television.
“There are a lot of things to be done and it has to start from the top,” Anyansi-Agwu told Lagos Talks FM.
“What we need to do is to set up the league the proper way (because) by the time the league is on television, we would have solved about 50% of our problems and every other person will key into it.
“The Federal Government needs to come alive because we have a great product like the NPFL that generates a lot of employment and job openings.
“In South Africa, clubs are supporting the (football) clubs because the Government has provided an enabling environment where companies can support clubs as they receive tax rebates.
“There is no way that a country like Nigeria will not have their league on Television.
“That’s the first point; that’s what needs to be done.”
The club chief then discussed the departures of stalwarts, Ifeanyi Anaemena and Theophilus Afelokhai who recently departed the Aba club to join cross town rivals, Rivers United.
“There is nothing unusual about that as this is a very normal thing in football,” he added.
“These two players have served Enyimba for about four or five seasons and it was time for them to move on to other things.
“Like I pointed out, it is not unusual.”
