African Sports Monthly Vol I. Issue II February 2018 | Page 23

With reality in sight, the drawing board must be visited and new sets of scribbling
must be done to supply solution to the problem.
Many Nigeria sports lovers are not fascinated at this apathy especially considering
the role that political interest has played in our football for the past few years. The
attraction that the Nigerian league command over the years has dropped significantly
and the love has been transferred to foreign leagues. But, the apathy of the fans, to
the government, is not as provoking as the absence of sponsors. There was,
therefore, zero surprises when the government proposed to compel local companies
through legislation to pay into local leagues for every sponsorship benefiting a
foreign football club. The government threatened to introduce tax sanction for
defaulters.
Whereas there is consensus on the need for local companies to invest in the county's
local football league, there is no such level feeling on the idea of sanctions. The
sentiment of the government was that many local companies throw huge sums in
sponsorship into foreign leagues without helping the local country that builds its
wealth.