Sajo Mohammed is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National League (NNL) formerly known as the National Division 1. He has been in the Nigerian football system for more than a decade with a firm grip on security in football. Mohammed, an alumnus of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA and a graduate of the University of Maiduguri, Borno State Nigeria is an attorney at law.
The CEO of NNL was a footballer and a basketballer in his days. He is an experienced Director Of Compliance with a demonstrated history of working in the government administration industry, strong finance professional skilled in Counterterrorism, Private Investigations, Law Enforcement, Intelligence, and Physical Security. His job at the NNL is to galvanize the league the more to reach expected heights. Mohammed, who has been a member of the security committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) since 2010, having worked with the Department of State Services (DSS) where he rose to the rank of Assistant Chief Security/Intelligence Officer before he retired from public service after 33 years, was hosted by a group of senior journalists in Lagos, southwest Nigeria at the weekend to discuss issues bothering on the development of the Nigerian National League. The Yola, Adamawa-born football administrator explained the challenges he has been facing since he assumed office and the changes he has brought to bear on the smooth running of the second tier of club football in Nigeria.
Experience of last season
I want to thank every stakeholder in the NNL for the successful completion of the season last year. It was a great season with a lot of experience. I must confess, there were a lot of issues on the field of play, violence everywhere during some home and away matches. We did our best to curtail this violent conduct of teams and their fans. There was crowd disturbance and clubs’ officials taking the law into their hands, attacking referees. Unfortunately, football has passed this level because referees are human beings who can make mistakes in the course of their duties. Also, last season, there was the problem created by COVID-19 restrictions which forced us to limit the numbers of fans at our stadia. Most matches were played behind closed doors. You can see that this would affect the revenue targets of these clubs. Thank goodness, we were able to organise a successful league last season.
Steps taken by the NNL management to stop violence in the league.
We are trying our best to ensure that we stop this act of violence in the league especially as the new season just kicked off. We organized seminars for the stakeholders in the league. We got resource persons from England, Spain and South Africa who participated in the seminar through Zoom. The essence of the seminar was to show our people that violence in football is counterproductive. It drives away sponsors and it is bad marketing to what we are doing. We made the club owners give us their words on the importance of playing safe at all times during home matches, and I am very happy that we are all on the same page on this.
Challenges facing since assumption of office
There are lots of challenges on the job since I assumed office. My duties as the CEO of the Nigerian National League include but are not limited to overseeing the administration of the league and ensuring that the league is run as it is being done all over the world. My job is to bring in sponsors and partners and more importantly, expose the league to the world, and also guaranteed adequate security at match venues across the country. So, when I came on board, there was no sponsor, no kobo in the accounts of the NNL. Through the grace of God, I got one sponsor. With this sponsor, we were able to run the league nonstop last season. And we were not owing anybody. I want to tell Corporate Nigeria that we need more sponsors to come to our aid, especially sponsor that can sign a deal of three to five years with us. This will help us stabilize the league and execute most of the lofty programmes we have.
Another challenge that we had when we came on board was the issue of violence as I talked about earlier. But I was able to get the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to assist us in beefing up security at match venues with little cost. Don’t forget that the youths are the footballers and the spectators, and our game is full of emotion. We will continue to try our best to show them the need to do away with violence and to always exhibit that spirit of good sportsmanship at all times.
What have you been doing in terms of publicity for the league?
I said earlier that part of my job is to expose the league to the world and if we must succeed we must carry along with Nigerian media. This was what I did when I came on board. I paid a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), StarTimes and Channels among others. I was well received by the management of these television stations, but the challenge we are facing is funding. Televising live matches cost a lot. We will not relent until we get there, and don’t forget, this interview session is part of our effort to tell the world what we are doing through media patronage. We have also mandated clubs playing in the league to have a strong presence on the social media space. They must have social media accounts. This is to their benefit. It is part of the publicity strategy. Without the media, we cannot go anywhere.
What NNL is doing about clubs inducing match officials
We heard about club management indulging in the bribery of referees. This is very bad. Though we have no empirical evidence to back up the claims of the inducement of referees, as a security expert, I won’t dismiss the case like that. We will continue to monitor our referees. We have engaged the Nigerian Referees Association on this. The referee’s association promised to assist us in fishing out the bad eggs among their people. We have been telling the club owners that these referees are receiving money from us and if they are still being given money by the club owners, that is double payment. There are lots of stories around, but we will keep on monitoring the events.
What is your experience of managing 46 clubs across the country in the NNL?
This is a big challenge for us especially with the paucity of funds at our disposal. The logistics to honour matches across venues in a country like Nigeria are very huge. We were advised to consider reducing the number of clubs in the league to a sizeable number. In the new season, we have raised the registration of clubs to N1.5 million from N500,000 being paid before now. Some clubs have not been able to pay, but we have given them a deadline. By next season, our plan is to reduce the number of clubs in the league to something around 30. I can tell you that many club owners are jostling to play in the league. As I speak we have some people looking for slots to play in the league. They told me that my presence alone makes the league very attractive.
How to sustain momentum in the league?
We can do this through the cooperation of the club owners. I am so happy with what managements of clubs such as Vandrezzers FC, Remo Stars and Bendel Insurance are doing to bring dynamism into their clubs. I can tell you, these are serious club managements. Our target is to have clubs in this league playing in the CAF tournaments and excel.
Relationship between your office and the Chairman of the Board of NNL
We have a very cordial relationship because our Chairman, Obinna Ogba is someone who is very passionate about the growth and development of Nigerian football especially club football in this country. We are working together to bring the league to that world-class standard expected.
Expectations in the new season
The league kicked off last Friday and I am in Lagos to watch the match between Vandrezzer and Bendel Insurance. It was an exciting match. Though it ended in goalless, fans were able to watch good football. We could all see the energy and the enthusiasm in the two teams on the field of play. They played good entertaining football to the delight of the fans. This was commendable. I want to assure you that we will give Nigerians a world-class league this time, as we will play by the rules of the games. Nigeria Football Federation and our friends in the corporate world will see what we are going to put in place in terms of quality officiating and the overall administration of the league as it is being done in the advanced world.
Pmexpress.com
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