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Pinnick urges local clubs to enlist on NSE

By Helen Oji
18 August 2015   |   12:43 am
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Amaju Melvin Pinnick, has urged local football managers to embrace the prevailing international order on sports financing by taking their clubs to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

PinnickNigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Amaju Melvin Pinnick, has urged local football managers to embrace the prevailing international order on sports financing by taking their clubs to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Speaking during the courtesy visit of the new Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh and members of NFF to the NSE in Lagos yesterday, Pinnick said: “Our coming here is doing something beyond symbolic because we want to have some of our clubs quoted on the floor of the NSE.

We will want to have a good relationship with the NSE. “We know Rome or Russia was not built in a day and we feel that if we come here and do what is symbolic, we will also come here one day and do something very prominent.

But our goal in the NFF is that we are determined to do something radically different from the past, using the Nigerian corporates as partners in progress and partners in redeveloping and rebuilding.

Our plans are short, medium and long-term and by God’s grace we are working assiduously to achieve those things.” He revealed that the federation would in the next few weeks, publish the accounts of the NFF to educate Nigerians on what the federation is doing.

He added: “We have as our auditors PriceWaterhouse Coopers, we have Financial Derivatives as our financial consultants. We are doing something extraordinary in trying to reposition Nigeria because we know that A to Z of Nigerians are very passionate about football.”

He revealed that there were 11 national teams in the country and as such huge funds were required to keep them afloat, adding that the NFF planned to adopt the British football model for Nigeria. “A way of doing that is partnering with the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The Nigerian Stock Exchange is like the mother of Nigerian corporates.

We need to get our visions actualized using Nigerian corporates.” He identified the major challenge facing football in Nigeria to government direct intervention and involvement in the game, noting that there was need for government to focus on other fundamental and governance issues facing the country.

Also speaking at the vent, new Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, explained that there was no way the country could grow in football without access to funds, considering its population of about 170 million with the nation’s passion for football.

Oliseh pledged to give 150 per cent of the coaching job to the Eagles, while assuring that players would be picked on merit. He added that he would work in collaboration with all stakeholders to revive the country’s fortunes in the sport. “We live in a capitalist economy. It is not 100 per cent but very close to it.

And we know that the only way out of doldrums for our football is to pour investment into it and where else is the best place when we try to get a new start than to come to the Stock Exchange. We are very honoured and grateful that we have been hosted here. “From our side, you can be sure of one thing, we are giving 150 per cent if possible to make you proud of the trust you put on us.”

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