THE League Management Company (LMC) and
the representatives of the 20 premier League clubs on Thursday agreed on the
sharing formula of the N550 million Globacom title sponsorship fee for the
2012/2013 Nigeria Professional Football season.
Rising from a meeting in Abuja, the
bodies also urged the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to ensure that only
credible referees officiated games of the elite league. The officials also
appraised the first round of the league, as well as receive the reports from
the refereeing unit of the general performance of their members during the
first round of the league, which currently under break.
In their communiqué jointly signed by the
chairman of the league body, Nduka Irabor, and acting chairman of club owners,
Isaac Danladi, the bodies said for “efficiency in officiating and proper
monitoring of matches, the NFF is advised to trim the number of referees in the
Premier league.
“The meeting reviewed the mid-season
report, unanimously adopted it and accepted that there was an improvement from
the past season. We noted with satisfaction the contributions from all the
relevant stakeholders on how best to move the league forward.
“The meeting also discussed the proposed
sharing formula for the league revenue and sponsorship fund and commended
Globacom for supporting the league. “We were told that we have over 190
referees currently officiating the Premier League and we look at it from the
angle of the damage of insisting that all of them must officiate. We agreed
that certain number of referees should be selected based on merit by
officiating recruitment body. It will not be an all comers affair.”
LMC representative, Shehu Dikko said,
“the meeting discussed the sharing formula for the league funds and basically
dwelt on the standard structure of sharing. The percentage is the most
important thing not essentially the figures.
“We discussed the standard structure that
will show that all the money coming into the league is shared in accordance
with the due process. So, from day one, everybody will be very clear of the
sharing formula. It is only when the funds are available that we will just
share it accordingly.
“We have two sections of how the money
will be shared, one of them is the one due to clubs, and we have facilities and
youth football development. “The second is the operational cost of the league
which also goes to the clubs. The money is spent on behalf of the club to pay
indemnities, organisation of meetings. The salaries for the league staff,
monitoring of the sponsorship compliance and certain percentage to the
federation for disciplinary matters among other things go into the second
session,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Referees
Association (NRA) has urged the LMC to increase the indemnity of their
officials in the league to more than N100, 000, noting that they agreed to
accept the current dues because LMC pleaded with them to do so. Confirming the
NRA’s request for increase in their indemnity, NRA President, Ahmed Maude urged
the LMC to heed to the referees’ request to encourage the referees to do their
best in officiating matches.
He said, “the good thing is that the LMC
has promised that they will pay over a N100, 000 after the meeting in Abuja on
Wednesday. It was a response to what we have been complaining since this
season. He said, “the good thing is that the LMC has promised that they will
pay over a N100, 000 after the meeting in Abuja on Wednesday. It was a response
to what we have been complaining since this season. “However, the good thing is
that they are not owing a kobo to any referee up till now, unlike what our
referees faced in the previous dispensation.”
He said, “the good thing is that the LMC
has promised that they will pay over a N100, 000 after the meeting in Abuja on
Wednesday. It was a response to what we have been complaining since this
season. He said, “the good thing is that the LMC has promised that they will
pay over a N100, 000 after the meeting in Abuja on Wednesday. It was a response
to what we have been complaining since this season. “However, the good thing is
that they are not owing a kobo to any referee up till now, unlike what our
referees faced in the previous dispensation.”
Reported by : ngrguardiannews.com
