The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, on Monday said that Nigeria’s inability to broadcast live matches from the African Nations Cup was in the interest of sports development in the country.

Mr. Maku said this during an inspection of ongoing work at the Inland River Port in Oguta, Imo State.

The minister, who apologised to Nigerians for the blackout on live matches of the tournament, said that the demand of the rights holder was highly exploitative.

According to Mr. Maku, “it is necessary for Nigeria to call their bluff because they were not willing to bring down the price despite efforts by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON).”

“All efforts made by BON through the agent LC2 did not work. From eight million euros, they came to six million then 4.5 million Euro; so you can see that it is not a scientific charge, it is a kind of casino pricing.

“BON decided that this year, Nigeria should call the bluff of this agent and maybe next time the Confederation of African Football will be more sensitive when it comes to hiring of agents to vent the broadcasting rights of the African Nations Cup,” he said...Read more: http:///VPcbOu

Booked.currently composing my grammar.