President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Ibrahim Musa Gusau on Wednesday inaugurated the new board of the NPFL – the elite division of Nigeria’s domestic football league – while advising the board to take seriously and without caring whose ox is gored, the issue of enforcement of Club Licensing requirements.
“Club Licensing is a fundamental football development trajectory that the new Board must take very seriously. Therefore, I charge the new board to set a target which must be met by all Clubs as prerequisite for participation in the League. I also want you to set a percentage compliance on Club Licensing requirements for each Club, so that every season, you can measure the extent of adherence by each Club.”
On the issue of change of name, the NFF President insisted that the option must be tabled before the Congress of the NFF for approval, and the necessary processes undertaken for a change to take effect.
At the season that just ended, the elite league was played under the name Nigeria Premier League (NPL) instead of the previous and now reverted Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL)
In attendance were the Chairman of the NPFL, Gbenga Elegbeleye; Mohammed Nasiru Sa’idu (Member); Barr. Poubeni Ogun (Member); Daniel Amokachi (Member); Okey Kpalukwu (Member); Suleiman Umar (Member) and; Dominic Iorfa (Member).
There were also the Secretary/Legal Adviser, Danlami Ibrahim and the Chief Operating Officer, Davidson Owumi.
The new NPFL board has a two-year tenure, same as the boards of the Nigeria National League, the Nigeria Women Football League and the Nigeria Nation-Wide League One that were inaugurated the previous week.