THE IMPACT OF TNFF ON NPFL

 

The emergence of GTI Asset Management & Trust Ltd into Nigeria's football ecosystem has helped to restructure and reposition Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) for greatness following the chains of successes so far achieved in the execution of the 2022/2023 abridged league. Already, the NPFL will be entering another crucial stage of a playoff that will involve the six top clubs in the league to ascertain the ultimate winner of this highly contested soccer season. 

Therefore, come June 1 to 11, 2023 the city of Lagos and Mobolaji Johnson Sports Arena, Onikan precisely, will be agog as the three top clubs in Groups A and B of the NPFL respectively will slug it out in what football analysts described as, “Mother of all soccer battles”.Here, all six teams will play each other in a round-robin format to decide the NPFL champions for the 2022/2023 season.

Aside from the aforementioned, history will also be made this season as the winner of the NPFL Championship Playoff will go home with a mouth-watering price money of N100million, alongside a giant trophy which has never happened since the inception of league football in Africa’s most populous black nation.

Following the emergence of NPFL ‘s strategic partners, GTI Trust & Asset Management Nigeria Ltd into Nigeria's football ecosystem, the company saw the need to partner with the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the NPFL in order to add value and administer the league as a business enterprise than a mere recreational sport. The Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the NPFL alongside the Board of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) saw the sincerity, seriousness and irresistible blueprint of GTI to turn the NPFL around and gave its nod.

Prior to the commencement of the 2022/2023 abridged Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), GTI had unveiled an investment fund tagged ‘The Nigerian Football Fund’ to enhance and restructure the country’s sports industry beginning with football. It was therefore a strategic fit to use the vehicle of the TNFF to energize the NPFL to reposition and activate the various revenue sources.

For the records, TNFF is a Specialized Collective Investment Scheme that combines the regular advantages of a mutual fund with the unique propositions of a structured fund which is aimed at raising N5 billion through an initial public offering of 5.0 billion units at N1 per unit. According to GTI, the minimum subscription to the fund is 100,000 or in multiples of N100,000 thereafter. However, the application list for the offer was opened on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, as many investors have already invested in the fund, while many others are lining up with the hope of tapping into this goldmine termed ‘Nigeria’s new green oil’. 

As explained by TNFF Project Director, Nelson Ine, revealed that the fund is approved and registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an open-ended fund that is managed by GTI Asset Management & Trust Limited, a member of GTI Group. 

Ine, who doubles as the Executive Director (ED,) Fund Management of GTI, further affirmed that the investment initiative will give Nigerian football a great boost because of its enormous potential. Also, with a substantial Return on Investment (ROI), investors will enjoy TNFF because of its better yields comparable to other financial instruments in the market. 

As noted earlier, and statistically proven, the quality of the NPFL is on the rise in terms of officiating, funding, followership (both online and offline), and clubs are getting richer as each soccer season progresses. Therefore, with all the growth indicators clearly confirming the positive impact of TNFF on NPFL, it is possible that in the next two seasons, NPFL will become the most cherished football league in Africa and the world.

Lending his voice to the laudable initiative GTI through TNFF will bring to the Nigeria football ecosystem, former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Femi Pedro, unequivocally told the Nigerian sporting press that TNFF would fill the missing link in the development of Nigerian sports generally because it provides a unique vehicle to mobilize private sector funding for sports development, which also will contribute significantly to national economic development.

Pedro further noted that efficient and consistent funding had been the missing gap undermining the potential of the Nigerian sports ecosystem and opined that this will be successfully addressed with the TNFF initiative because it will help unlock the potential of the sports ecosystem in Nigeria. Already the positive feedbacks from analysts regarding the ongoing Nigeria Premier Football League 2022 – 2023 season is a testimony to the immediate impact of the TNFF initiative on the league. 

From the feelers gathered by the Media & Publicity department of GTI/TNFF, clubs no longer fear playing away matches with hands in their mouths because a solution has finally been found. Also, in maintaining the discipline, integrity and quality of officiating, the NPFL Disciplinary Committee does not waste time to discipline any erring match official or club. 

To further checkmate inducements on match officials, these Match Day officials now receive their entitlements 48hrs before any match, many thanks to GTI for helping in ending poor officiating during matches. Frankly, the success story of the 2022/2023 season is a testimony of greater things to follow in the upcoming seasons as TNFF is already harvesting the potential of its impact in Nigeria’s football ecosystem with regard to people, talent, passion and resources.The benefits that are already accruing as a result of the TNFF/GTI initiative are super attractive and unique because they are helping in reducing government involvement in sports funding which has been the bane of sports development in Nigeria since independence in 1960. 

Former Vice President, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Seyi Akinwunmi, believes that the TNFF project would herald a lot of greatness in the Nigerian sports industry with several multiplier effects on the economy, security and youth employment as a result of the yawning gap in the sector. He however thumbed up GTI for this great initiative.

The Group Managing Director, GTI Group, Abubakar Lawal, in his summation also believes that the TNFF initiative would serve as an enabler for sustainable funding of football and other sports in the country, with a target of growing sports’ contribution to the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 0.5 per cent within the next five years. He added that the TNFF initiative is a massive project such that employment will be created, liquidity provided, infrastructure delivered, insecurity managed, and the economy will be developed from this experience.