By Ebube Dike

Chairman of the League Management Company Mallam Shehu Dikko has revealed that he is not sure when League Football will return to the country.

Dikko who was answering online questions on “FCT Football update” said the face of the country’s football will change for the better after the pandemic.

He said the LMC is not working in isolation on the COVID-19 ” it’s a global mater and we are being guided on what like FiFA, CAF will direct and also how our domestic situation develops. We are hopeful Nigeria will conquer this pandemic soonest and we get our lives back to normal and get the green light to resume football. Then we will appraise where we are and decides what to do”.

He said already they are working on so many options and possibilities both in dealing with the impact now and also the post COVID 19 decisions.

“Well honestly the pandemic is affecting the league just as it’s affecting everything across the globe. Sports industry generally is one of the worst hit in this as many things are time bound and even the finances is structured as such. We can see how global football leagues that we all thought are beyond shock have all been distorted especially financially, organizationally and legally among others”.

“We too are on the same boat though not to their level. For example the second tranche of investment from Next tv was due the week the league was suspended as the investors and all had to delay now including preparation for commencement of testing or the broadcast. We have overdue payables from others which we can’t get now until all is sorted. We have seen how sponsors and broadcast partners are withhelding payments due across the world and we can’t be an exception”.

In all, Dikko sees a silver lining at the end of the day. “Once all is settled, everyone now has realized, just like it’s now evident huge investment has to be made into our health sector it’s now evident also that huge investment we have been clamoring for into football and indeed sports in Nigeria has to be made as we all now have to see how we can build everything in-house and stop relying of foreign content. So I foresee that we would come out better” he concluded.