Abuja – Seyi Akinwunmi, the Chairman, Adhoc Committee, Nigeria National League (NNL), on Wednesday urged members to make individual sacrifice to ensure rapid development of the sport.
Akinwunmi, who is also the first Vice-President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), made the call at the annual congress of the league in Abuja.
He urged members to put the interest of the sport above individual interest to ensure the progress of the league.
“I am extremely passionate about getting this thing (league) going, but not just about getting it going but about getting this league take its rightful place in the scheme of things, not just in Nigeria but in Africa and the world.
“As we go along, you will see that a lot of collaboration that goes on between various levels of leagues across the world that we can take benefit of and we have not taken benefit of over the years.
“And the reason has been because of selfish interest, everybody has been too concerned about my club, about myself, about my state, instead of being concerned about football.
“And I think that has not helped to grow this league to the extent that it should.
“I am sure that today and going forward, all of us will begin to see a difference in the way we look at our league.
“I hope that we will put every interest aside and focus on the common goal, which is football.’’
According to him, the committee will ensure that the league is run transparently.
“As chairman of the right committee, I am not going to run your league for you, but I am going to insist on certain fundamentals particularly transparent financial fundamentals.
“Secondly, we are going to insist on transparency as a whole, we do not want self interest, conflict of interest to come to the floor.
“We do not want to put square peg in round hole, so please as much as we want this thing to work, we must be prepared to make individual sacrifices.’’
NAN reports that the adhoc committee was set up by the NFF to oversee the affairs of the league following the expiration of the former board led by Emeka Inyama.
The 2015/2016 league season is expected to begin on May 7. (NAN)