Abuja – Emeka Inyama, the former Chairman of the Nigeria National League (NNL) board, on Wednesday in Abuja said the past board raised the league to its present standard.
Inyama, at the annual congress of the league, said the board did well even though it began its operations with no funds.
“You do not expect the board to do magic when the other side is not doing actually what it is supposed to do.
“We came into the board with no money. Not even N5 to take off from here.
“So, looking back from where we are coming to and where we are, we can only commend ourselves.
“ When we came on board, the league was literally not there. It was a unit in the NFF, headed by a senior staff.
“But we came with a board that was vibrant and gave it a new name.
“We incorporated the league to become a limited liability company. It was the first league in Nigeria to have official match clubs.
“Clubs even began paying indemnities for the first time,’’ he said.
Inyama also said he spent personal money to ensure that the league was not disrupted at any time.
“I sent N500,000 sometimes to clubs to help them honour their matches, so that they did not bring the league to disrepute’’, he said.
Inyama also said the league board was already pushing to get sponsorship for the competition from corporate bodies before its tenure ended late last year.
He listed such corporate bodies to include StarTimes, Betnaija, MTN and NICON Insurance, saying some of them were close to being approved.(NAN)