Value creation and effective media coverage have been Identified as a panacea to woo and attract private dponsors to key into the growth of football from the grassroots to the national level.
President of the Nationwide League campaigners, SG Football Club of Ilorin, Chief Richard Opanuga made the submission in Ilorin while speaking with the sports writers at the presentation of kits to the Kwara NLO teams, donated to them by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Okaa Sports, Alhaji Adelodun Abdullahi
The America-based football club owner, who posited that sports and media are synonymous at the level of reaching out to the heterogeneous society, explaining that value that is in tandem with the philosophy of the sponsors and investors will only guarantee long term sponsorship of football from all levels.
Chief Opanuga emphasized that Kwara is already positioned in a strategic location with peaceful and enabling environment which can attract investors to invest in football without undue persuasion.
“Kwara is the gateway between the North, West and South, there is nothing stopping us in having academy league where twenty teams from, Ilorin, Osogbo, Offa and Ogbomosho will register with toking and winner will go home with as much as N1million naira, N500,000 for second and N250,000 for third respectfully. This can only be achieved if there is value for money of the sponsors”
He commended Kwara FA, under the Chairmanship of Mallam Idris Abdullahi Musa for transforming football from the grassroots, stressing that the Kwara FA Chairman is one of the few Chairmen in the Federation that is easily accessible in the administration of football, asking him to ignore critics and continue moving the state’s football to the next level of development.