NPFL partner, GTI Group reaffirms commitment to revamping Nigeria football

GTI Group is seeking investment from both local and foreign investors into The Nigeria Football Fund (TNFF) to drive development in the country’s sports ecosystem, according to the Executive Director of Fund Management and the Projector Director of the TNFF, Nelson Ine.

The leading financial institution has committed millions to the NPFL since the Gbenga Elegbeleye-led Interim Management Committee (IMC) took over the administration of the NPFL as GTI gave a 10m take-off to each of the 20 teams taking part in the ongoing abridged  2022/23 season.

Speaking at a media parley at the outfit’s headquarters in Lagos, Ine said the intervention funding of the NPFL was a well-thought-out business module, adding the TNFF will in a record time change the fortunes of Nigerian football forever.

Referencing the Premier League, the financial investment expert, noted that professional sports can survive without government funding as there are millions of investors from Nigeria and abroad that would be willing to finance Nigerian football even more so through the TNFF.

“Football has become big business and the TNFF is here as an enabler for the NPFL,” Ine told media.

“The TNFF is a specialized mutual fund and the whole idea is to encourage every Nigerian to invest in this fund which will be used to activate professional sports because professional sports can deliver substantial revenue instead of always waiting for the government to fund our sports, especially football.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we (GTI) are not a sponsor of the league rather we are strategic partners with the Nigeria Premier League with the sole aim to make the NPFL business driven; we are the NPFL enablers.

“We must manage our resources to achieve sports development. This fund will be the highest-yielding fund in the capital market in the next five years. It will create a platform for investments from both local and foreign investors into the football industry.

“Therefore, we desire to secure the necessary funding required for the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) management in the quest to implement a football economy that will make Nigeria the hub of Africa sports, custodian of continental glory uniting the people and delivering a stronger economy.”

In his remarks, the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of GTI, Abubakar Lawal, said the outfit has taken it upon itself to make NPFL and indeed Nigerian football a successful business enterprise.

“We have been on this project for over a decade and we have been working and funding this TNFF project daily,” he said.

“As an investment bank, we have taken it upon ourselves the responsibility to turn around Nigerian football using the TNFF but I want everybody to know that this is a collective responsibility; therefore all Nigerians must be ready to invest in it.

“We are currently engaging with FIFA for endorsement. We are also selling the project to other nations and this would put Nigeria on the global map to say it is possible to achieve some significant level of development in the nation’s sports sector. We have demonstrated our capacity and we are full of confidence to do more.”