GTI Asset Management & Trust Limited says all the money it has put in so far, including a recently announced grant, comes to less than two percent of what the Nigeria Premier Football League could earn over the next five years.
The company’s media chief, Andrew Ekejiuba, made the point while praising the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for significantly raising prize money for winners of the top flight. No amount has been published. GTI is a strategic partner of the league.
Ekejiuba spoke in Lagos. “Increasing the NPFL prize money sends a strong statement of intent that will undoubtedly motivate clubs, improve competitiveness, and send the right signals to investors and stakeholders about the future of Nigerian football,” he said. Further money from the NSC to strengthen league operations, he added, would speed things up.
The league’s board and GTI Group, in his telling, have spent four years on reforms and investment to reposition the competition. He listed corporate governance, commercial value and investor appeal.
He called collaboration among football’s key institutions “a means to an end.”
His warning came next. Celebrating now would be premature, Ekejiuba said, because much is unfinished: governance, club licensing, infrastructure, production quality, content and data management, financial accountability and fan engagement.
GTI wants to help build what he described as an accountable, transparent football ecosystem that can bring in more partners, sponsors and investors, and it says other backers are welcome.
A separate item in SportsDay’s coverage carries a bigger number. GTI executive director Nelson Ine said the league could attract more than N200 billion in investment within five years, speaking at a webinar at the company’s Lagos headquarters on grassroots football investment and its effect on young people.
Sources
- GTI Applauds NSC and NFF as NPFL Prize Money for Winners Increases – zalebs
- GTI lauds NSC, NFF on NPFL prize money increase
- GTI Commends NSC NFF on NPFL Transformation | SportsDay posted on the topic | LinkedIn
