‘Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop’, this old adage aptly describes the situation between players in the Globacom Premier League and the officials of the Nigeria Professional League (NPL), the body that governs the league.

While the board markets the league with the players as products and rakes in millions, the players get next to nothing for their sweat.

For the 2009/10 season, Globacom Telecommunications, the title sponsor paid N921, 800 million, for television rights, DSTV through Total Promotions paid N119,771 million. The league official bankers paid N50 million, Insurance partner N20 million, Marina Medical Services N3.5 million, club registration N4 million, fines and cautions N11.4 million, arbitration N12.4 million, endorsement will bring in N 5 million, while the body will realise N24 million from other sources, all these amount to N1,191,875.71 billion.

Of this amount, the 20 football clubs participating in the league will get a meagre N200 million, out of which they will pay N32.8 million to NPL for registration fees, fines, cautions and commission on club endorsements.

While every aspect of the NPL spending has increased, including revenue from sponsors - for example, the title sponsor, Globacom Telecommunications Limited gave NPL N806 million in 2008, in 2009, it increased to N840, 530, for the 2009/10 season N921, 800 million - remittance from NPL to clubs still remains N10 million to each of the 20 clubs, that is N200 million in total.

Items listed under capital, operational and administration expenses say a lot about the intention of the NPL board, and their concerns about the growth and development of football in Nigeria.

Capital expenditure

Last season, the NPL told the world it has acquired an office complex for about N185 million - the expansive building is at Garki, Abuja, near the old Central Bank - though insider claims it cost about N130 million.

But in the 2009/10 budget, the NPL is building again. This time, they are constructing a conference room and an office for the board’s chairperson Oyuki Obaseki at the cost of N31 million, and they will pay Abuja Geographical Information Service N19 million for land allocation.

If the NPL bought an office complex for N185 million last season, are they saying the complex is too small to accommodate Obaseki’s office and a conference room?

Whatever happened to the furniture and fittings NPL used last year, we may never know, but this season they have budgeted N15 million for furniture and N5 million for fittings and interior decorations. This amounts to N20 million - the amount the NPL is paying two clubs for a whole season.

Last season, the NPL according to its audited report by the firm of Olaniyi Wale Odunaiya spent N2, 680,171 million on maintenance of vehicles. The high amount spent on vehicle maintenance show the number of cars at NPL’s disposal, this year they are purchasing two new cars. Though the brand is not specified, the two cars will cost N6 million in total.

The condition of the air conditioners in NPL’s office in Asokoro is unknown, but for this new season they have budgeted N1.5 million for 10 units of air conditioners and N2.5 million for 10 laptops. A million naira is set aside for the purchase of TV system and PABX system.

Information technology infrastructure, which includes acquisition of VSAT Equipment and bandwidth, networking and configuration of website, and central power back-up will cost N27 million, in spite of the fact that they already have a functional I.T department.

With about 15 staff on its pay roll and a few youth corps members, the NPL really takes human and capacity development serious, or how else would one justify their decision to spend N32 million on human and capacity development?

Operational expenditure

Top on the list of NPL’s operational expenditure is the board’s meeting which is expected to gulp N9.1 million this season.

Committee meetings will cost N34 million, while match officials allowances will cost N167 million. Independent monitors allowances will cost N53.2 million. Travel and tours cost N50 million.

The priority of the board is higher than football - its primary responsibility - as it has allocated N20 million to hotel expenses. To maintain it office, the NPL will spend N24 million, while it personnel will get N53.6 million in salary.

NPL’s events which include seminars, draws and retreats will cost the board N41.6 million, marketing and media N40 million, and season winding up expenses will cost N5 million, half of what a club will get for a whole season.

Whereas the NPL thinks little of the welfare of players, it thinks highly of the welfare of its staff, they have even planned for those who may be bereaved before the end of the season. For staff welfare, the body has set aside N72.5 million, out of this amount, N5 million is for bereavement.

Printing and stationeries will gulp N2 million.

Administrative expenditure

For the big men in NPL, imprest tops the list of budget for administrative expenditure and N10.08 million, a little above what each club gets. The chairperson gets N300,000 monthly, while the executive secretary gets N250, 000, other classes of staff share the balance.

Newspapers and journals will cost N1.08 million. One area of the budget that continues to generate controversy is fees, commission and grants.

They will, this year, pay N167, 924 million, almost equivalent of what the body is paying the 20 clubs as fees, commission and grants.

Title sponsorship marketing commission will get N92,180 million, that is 10 per cent of what NPL gets from Globacom. Since the deal is not new, why pay commission again? Same is true of the N64.5 million paid as legal fee, audit fee of N2 million and N9.2 million paid as subscription fee to club owners.

Office expenses will set the NPL back with N8 million, financial charges N13 million, debt settlement N193 million and investment expenses on its fixed deposit N50 million.

Response by sponsors and NPL

Efforts to speak with Obaseki, the board chairperson, Shehu Gusau, his deputy; Alhassan Yakmut, the scribe; and Ray Nnaji were futile as their mobile lines were either switched off or they would not just pick.

The only board member who spoke, Michael Idoko, talked about the league and NPL’s plans for the season, but once the subject changed to his opinion on NPL spending about 80 pe rcent of its budget on administrative and other expenditure, while a fraction goes to players and the clubs, Idoko got angry and began insulting, before he turned off his phone.

The spokesperson for the league’s main sponsor Globacom Telecommunications, Bode Opeseyitan, said he would love to grant an interview, but not on phone, as it is against company policy, for fears of being misquoted.

But the club owners, players and coaches decried the sharing formula; many believe the players are slaving on the field while the board members are smiling to the banks.

[url]http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5461009-146/Players_groan,_while_board_members_get.csp[/url]

na waaaaaaaaa.na so we go dey.

@Topic

And we keep blaming our "leaders".The problem is not our leaders.It's US.Everyone one is guilty!

Just like every sector corruption is a very big disease.

thats not corruption, its rebranding in process

Corruption has no barriers.

Nobody should blame Yar'Adua, Aondoakaa, Farida, e.t.c. we are all corrupt!

At least the Nigerian football league under the present management has made p-r-o-g-r-e-s-s

Cool, Shine your eyes! anyway is a way.

Monkey dey work bamboo the chop

corruption dey our blood, or should i say
all the seats in any level of leadership in Nigeria
is cursed to imput corruption in anyone
who gets to the seat. No matter ur decency if u become a leader
u become corrupt like other

I dont understand something here, is it the NPL that pays players or the club administrators?

someone should explain things to me, why are the players not revolting against the NPL or is it that none of them are knowledgeable?

why are the club managers not revolting when what is going on is not done at their backs?

what is the job of each club administrators

what is the job of the NPL

What is the job of the NFF

Is NFF not aware of the activities of the NPL?

does anyone have answers to these questions before we proceed?


TIPS:

What is the job of the English fa to the EPL?

Does the fa pay or increases players wages in the EPL or the club does?

Does the FA give each club money according to how many sponsors the FA gets or does clubs go out to fish in sponsors for internal revenue allocation?

Anyone with concrete response to my questions should respond.

Thanks

nigerian football is not business oriented, hence its not investable so clubs cannot make money.
all stadium used in football matches are state owned, clubs are only paid certain amount the npl decides, not a percentage of gate takings,

the football system should be restructured and be business focused. all clubs should have their stadium or pay per game,

come make we chop.

What name are u suggesting for Nigeria, then?

Somebody is saying here that every Nigerian is corrupt! Hey! Can that be true!?

Hey its not that every Nigerian is corrupt. Tufiakwa!
It's the fact that corruption, the status quot, is allowed to happen without much protest.
We the majority, of hardworking Nigerians, need to revolt against the few that give us such an undesirable image.

see noise makers, all they can do is make noise, common solution they cant give, not to talk of working towards putting their suggestions into actions. i asked few questions, no one has given me an answer since, all they could say is corruption corruption corruption. explain if you know what each organisation does for nigerian premierleague before you make noise.[color=][/color]

see noise makers, all they can do is make noise, common solution they cant give, not to talk of working towards putting their suggestions into actions. i asked few questions, no one has given me an answer since, all they could say is corruption corruption corruption. explain if you know what each organisation does for nigerian premierleague before you make noise.[color=][/color]

see noise makers, all they can do is make noise, common solution they cant give, not to talk of working towards putting their suggestions into actions. i asked few questions, no one has given me an answer since, all they could say is corruption corruption corruption. explain if you know what each organisation does for nigerian premierleague before you make noise.[color=][/color]

see noise makers, all some can do is make noise, common answer they cant give, not to talk of working towards putting their suggestions into actions. i asked few questions, no one has given me an answer since, all they could say is corruption corruption corruption. explain if you know what each organisation does for nigerian premierleague before you make noise.[color=][/color]

Must u say it four times? Abeg, we heard u the first time, jare.

this eejiot sef, i wonder who dey make noise?

See them dey cry because i have stopped them from trying to use every medium to insult anything Nigeria, if this is the only thing you guys know how to do, then i must say you guys are jobless,


understand issues first before you make shitty noises, at least, that would show that you have knowlegde of what you are blabbing at.


yeye Nigerians

It was only a matter of time that an audit of NPL will reveal this absurdness.

The press & the tittle sponsors are in connivance with NPL executives.

A full payment was made for 2 abridged league seasons a while back and there was no audit done.

This is what you get when we have government controlled clubs and an illegally (by virtue of not belonging to Insurance FC board which was later relegated) elected head.


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[url]http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Sport/5390327-147/Controversy_over_NFL_house,_$4million_TV.csp[/url]


[size=16pt]Controversy over NFL house, $4million TV Rights[/size]



Poor in positive results, but very rich in crisis, Nigeria football's perennial friends - crisis and controversy - look set to rear their ugly heads over the 200m 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 the its administrative office.

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

Head of the NFL, Oyuki 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 document 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 a television rights agreement with Super Sports 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 Super Sports.

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 Super Sports 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 NFL from 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.

I like this exclamation "Naija!"



Nigeria Is Blessed.

folem:

after all said and done, whose fault the ignorant club chairmen or who?

folem:

thanks guy, i didn't see this before, so you see, it's not npl's fault if they do things the way they are doing it now lol