For many years the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) have been ravaged with numerous challenges that have become a constantly feature season in, season out and one wonders when these bottlenecks will go away.
With each passing day, the league has been caught in the web of growth-hinderers from players' welfare, sub standard stadia, officiating, administrative amongst others. While there is relative success achieved in some of the aforementioned challenges, the issue of logistics in preparation for the start of the league has remained constant.
Often has the authorities or those in charge of football in the country state that the league will commence at a date that will coincide with leagues in Europe. That statement or desire have continuously become fallacious. Perhaps not because it was intend for it to be so, but have the right things been done or put in place for the date chosen to be realizable?
One thing or the other have been an excuse or reason why the postponement of the start of the league has been non-stop and it doesn't look like that will end soon.
With the ramshackles seen before the conduct of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) elections, starting the league for now may just be a mirage for now. Though, the NFF as a body in operation has no business with the running of the league, but in this part of the world that has been the case as the League Management Company (LMC), the body that runs the league cannot be separated from the NFF in the real sense.
The recent ban or sack of the LMC by the court through the federal government is another cog in the wheel of the running of the league one begins to wonder when all these will end. Can the issues which hamper the growth of the league ever cease?
Football administrators need to begin to see football as business that should be managed effectively and efficiently to derive great benefits for the country.
Those at the helm of affairs when it comes to running club football need to put selfish or personal interest aside and make the country's interest topmost.