Chairman of the League Management Company (LMC), Shehu Dikko, has urged corporate bodies, especially sports-loving ones, to emulate the Eunisell Limited in the development of sports in general and football in particular in the country.
Dikko made the plea on Tuesday, July 21, in Lagos when management of Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt unveiled its new shirts for the second half of the season. This was after reaching an agreement with Eunisell Limited as new shirt sponsors.
Despite keeping the finer details of the contract under wraps, Dikko asked other organisations to emulate Eunisell and help build domestic football while the LMC will work on giving them value for their money.
He said: “By the second stanza of the league, we are trying to get more TV exposure because that is what drives the commercial participation of companies in the league. We are in discussion with our broadcast partners and we will get more games on TV.
Dikko also stated that there was a big opportunity for Nigerian clubs to bite into the large chunk of N150 billion spent by companies on marketing communications in the country in 2014.
Eunisell’s Group Managing Director (GMD), Chika Ikenga, said it was an opportunity to support domestic football. He encouraged other organisations to get on board, while also asking clubs to show more zest in the marketing of their products.
“Today belongs to Sharks, today belongs to the progress of Nigerian football,” said Ikenga, whose chemical solutions company has been in existence since 1996.
“Why should anybody come to support you? You need to be able to market your business and you will be amazed the kind of support you will get.”
One of the reasons Ikenga offered for the decision to support Sharks is that his eight-year-old son is an ardent fan of the leagues in Nigeria and around Africa.
Ikenga also said they began discussions with Sharks when they first met at the Social Media Week Football Day in Lagos and he was impressed that some club officials decided to show up.
The Port Harcourt club would wear the newly branded shirts when the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) resumes its second stanza.
Club captain, Odinga Odinga, and striker, Christian Pyagbara, were the first to model the shirts after the presentation to the media.