Egbe Backs Elegbeleye, Urges Fair Assessment Of NPFL Tenure

Chief Executive Officer of Monimichelle Sports Facilities and Construction Limited, Ebi Egbe, has defended former Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) chairman Gbenga Elegbeleye against criticism of his tenure, arguing that the former league boss and his team made measurable progress despite the competition’s lingering problems.

Egbe said stakeholders should assess Elegbeleye’s administration against the structural challenges it inherited rather than attribute every shortcoming in Nigerian football to those who were responsible for running the league.

“It is very easy to sit outside the system and apportion blame for everything that is wrong with Nigerian football. But when you are inside the system, confronting years of accumulated abnormalities, vested interests, poor structures and institutional weaknesses, the reality is completely different,” Egbe said.

He pointed to developments in the league’s commercial and broadcast arrangements as some of the notable gains recorded during Elegbeleye’s tenure.

These included the involvement of GTI as an investment partner, the return of regular television coverage through StarTimes and increased live streaming through Propel Sports Africa.

The 2023/24 season, according to Egbe, had 76 matches broadcast live on StarTimes and 218 streamed matches, while Propel streamed nine of the 10 matches simultaneously on the final day.

Rangers won the 2023/24 NPFL title, while the following campaign was completed on its originally scheduled date, an outcome Egbe described as an important step in addressing the league’s longstanding organisational problems.

“You cannot correct decades of abnormalities overnight. It takes time, courage, consistency and, most importantly, the willingness to confront the problems rather than pretend they do not exist,” he said.

Egbe also cited the NPFL’s recent commercial developments, including the reported $7.5 million, three-year EUROMATCH title sponsorship agreement.

Under the agreement, 60 per cent of the sponsorship revenue is expected to go directly to the participating clubs, with the stated aim of improving players’ wages and welfare.

For Egbe, such developments should form part of any assessment of the former NPFL administration, even as he acknowledged that the league continues to face significant challenges.

He said efforts to improve the welfare of match officials, strengthen discipline, improve broadcasting and attract investment represented areas where progress had been made.

“From my perspective as a licensed players’ agent who retired 20 years ago and now into infrastructure, Gbenga Elegbeleye was on the right path in trying to correct some of the structural abnormalities within the NPFL and reposition the league commercially,” he said.

‘NPFL still has work to do’

Egbe acknowledged that the domestic league remains far from the standard it should attain, identifying infrastructure, officiating, club administration, consistency and commercialisation as areas requiring further attention.

He nevertheless cautioned against dismissing the work of an entire administration because the league’s broader problems remain unresolved.

“We should learn to distinguish between constructive criticism and unfair condemnation,” Egbe said.

“If we genuinely want to rebuild Nigerian football, we must encourage those making measurable progress while continuing to demand better standards.”

His comments come amid continuing debate over the direction of the NPFL and the effectiveness of recent efforts to improve its commercial structure and overall administration.

Egbe argued that sustainable reform requires continuity, particularly where initiatives have begun to address longstanding weaknesses.

“The NPFL is not perfect. There is still a lot of work to be done. But let us not destroy every positive development simply because the system is not yet where we want it to be,” he said.

“Reforming Nigerian football is not a sprint. It is a process. And sometimes, the people doing the difficult work deserve credit before we ask them to do even more.”