Nigerian govt to compel corporate sports sponsorship

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said the government will amend the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Code to compel brands to sponsor Nigeria Professional Football League.

The News Agency of Nigeria reported on Wednesday, the minister made the assertion at the closing session of the “Two-Day Creative Industry Financing Conference,” sponsored by the ministry in conjunction with “Think Tank Media and Advertising.” The event closed late on Tuesday in Lagos, the country’s commercial centre. Mohammed’s statement is being discussed at different forums with a lot of those in the sports circle backing the idea, reports Extrasportsnigeria.com.

He said, “We will amend the NBC code to ensure that our Premier League improves. We will make sure that in the Code, if you spend one million dollars to support a foreign football club like Manchester United in Nigeria, you will not be allowed to air that programme unless you spend 30 per cent of that money to promote Nigeria’s league.”

He then remarked, “Some beverage companies in Nigeria support Manchester United, Arsenal and others and spend about $6 million a year. I then asked the question, how much of their products are being consumed over there?

“I was also told that a particular brand of Nigeria beer is supporting several premier league teams to the tune of $7 million a year. We can imagine if they give us just 30 per cent of that, we will fix our stadia. I know they are going to attack me on this but I am not made a minister to sustain the economy of other countries.”

He said the government could no longer fold its arms and watch a situation where people continue to develop the economy of other parts of the world from the toil of Nigerians and at the expense of Nigeria’s economy.