Nigerian Premier League has remained in its infancy many years after it was conceived and delivered. Reasons have, however, been adduced on this backdrop because of the quest for quick riches and desperation on the part of club officials, who want to justify the huge subventions they receive from their sponsors.

At the end of last season, which marked the end of the abridged league season, the Nigeria Football League (NFL) introduced innovations that would have placed our league on the right footing, but the internal wrangling between the body and the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) returned us back to the status quo of corruption.

Leaguemania learnt that Emirates Airlines, which sponsor clubs in Europe, had struck a deal with NFL to be paying the indemnities of referees and match commissioners in our league for a two-year period, but they had to back out when the crisis that rocked our local league continued unabated.
It was also learnt that the airline was ready to dole out as much as N200,000 each to match officials per match, a situation that would have forced them to stop accepting bribe from club officials, but we frittered that opportunity.

Again, the return of blacklisted referees and match commissioners, who had been indicted for taking kickbacks from club officials did not help matters.
Match officials also, did not help themselves in the whole scenario. They pitched their tent with the NFA, while the crisis lasted, and received half the amount of money that NFL were paying them as indemnities. When NFL returned as the league’s custodians, they maintained the status quo by paying them the amount the NFA were paying them while the impasse lasted.

Currently, they are hanging on the shortfall in payment to hoodwink clubs for extra financial support. What this means, therefore, is that corruption and bribery will continue to reign supreme until we flush out the bad eggs in the league of match officials, and that urgent step must be taken by the league board to resuscitate the Emirates deal, which will have a multiplier effect in putting things right.