Member of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and proprietor of Nigeria National League (NNL) side, FC One Rockets, Hon Otuekong Nse Essien, has said that paucity of funds, sponsorship and lack of facilities militating against the domestic football leagues in the country triggered his decision to come into the Board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), the highest decision-making body, of the Federation.
Hon Essien, who disclosed this at a parley with newsmen in Abuja, said a lot of things need to change if Nigeria must get its domestic football and grassroots development right.
According to him, if not until adequate attention is given to sponsorship, funding and development of facilities, football will continue to be on the decline at the grassroots level in the country.
The lawmaker said he is bringing capacity and integrity to bear on the board of the NFF to change the narrative of lack of sponsorship in the country’s football.
“Funding is a big problem for our football, not just for the league but the national teams,” Essien declared.
“Our league should be on TV. I don’t feel okay when I see leagues like Ethiopian, Zambian leagues on TV, they are not a lesser country but their population is less than Nigeria. We are a country of over 200 millions people and our league is not TV, that is not encouraging at all. Funding is a problem and I think with people like us now on board, we will make sure that we have sponsorship not just for the league but for the national teams as well.
“I’m bringing capacity and integrity on board and that is the truth. I have been in the House of Assembly for eight years and I decided not to go for a third term because I want to venture into a new adventure. So, I’m bringing capacity and integrity to NFF.
“We are looking at grassroots development and that is key, I remember as young lad when we were in old Cross Rivers State before the creation of Akwa Ibom State, we used to have The Principal Cup where secondary schools participated across the state, I’ll reinventing in Akwa Ibom State and try to encourage the leadership of the Federation to look at as well and thank God the president of the Federation has said that he wants to do grassroots development. We need to go back to an era when we used to have a state league, which is not functioning any more.”
