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Mobil Athletics sponsorship
ACROSS
countries and over the years, sports have consistently developed into big
business. Alongside the development has also been sponsorship, which is like a
lubricant that keeps sports running well. Indeed, sponsorship in sports has
become for sports what brands are to customers. Kill a brand and customers are
often scared away.
Over time, companies that invest
heavily in sports promotion and sponsorship not only reap the immense benefits
that abound, they are seen as good corporate citizens that take the interest of
their communities into consideration in their corporate mission and marketing
profile.
It is for this reason and more,
that many corporate organisations have found sports sponsorship a veritable
platform to make their mark as well as promote their brands. For instance, for
many years now, Shell Petroleum and Marlboro Cigarette are the major sponsors of
FORMULA One car racing championships, from where German icon Michael Schumacher
has made indelible marks.
In Nigeria, Mobil Producing -
an oil giant, has over the years been a major sponsorship of athletics
competitions. Such is the profound impact of the NNPC/Mobile athletics
championship that it serves as an arena for selecting our country’s
representatives in major international sports events like the Olympics, the All
Africa Games, the Commonwealth Games and other grand prix meets.
There is no denying the profound
impact of Mobil sponsorship on these aforementioned sporting competitions, as
our notable sportsmen and women like Chidi Imo, the Ezinwa brothers, Mary-Onyali-Omagbemi,
Falilat Ogunkoya Osheku, Gloria Alozie and Chioma Ajunwa to mention just a few,
are proud products of Mobil-sponsorship athletics championship.
Only recently, however, Mobil
served notice of its intention to withdraw further sponsorship of the athletics
championships, saying it wants to rechannel its resources and efforts in the
development of grassroots sports. What that means in effect is that, effective
next year, Mobil may no longer take part in the sponsorship it has for many
years primarily undertaken.
We acknowledge the vital role
Mobil has played in sports and community development in the country. Nonetheless
we consider its planned withdrawal in the sponsorship of the athletics
championships and the timing quite inauspicious. It is regrettable that at a
time when stakeholders in the economy are playing host to sponsorship conference
in October this year, on how companies can exploit the immense advantages that
exist in sponsorship marketing, Mobil is withdrawing from a major event that has
burnished its corporate image as well as enhanced sports development in Nigeria.
We are not unmindful of the
frustrations Mobil may have encountered over the years as a result of the
obvious petty politics that always plague our sports. It is also a fact that the
company has in the past not been satisfied with accountability in the
appropriation of resources earmarked for sports development. A company as Mobil
should, however, device other means of tackling these inadequacies. It should
consider the long term interest of sports in the country.
In this regard, we urge Mobil to
re-consider its stand on this matter. Considering the profit profile of the
company, it can, without minimal discomfort, combine the sponsorship of the
athletics championship, which for good measures, has become an integral part of
our sports calendar, and at the same time, have time to do its planned
grassroots sports development. It has, after all, been doing that before now,
and can still do the two. The import of its withdrawal from the annual athletics
event will be too unfortunate for Mobil to take any pride in.
Beyond this, we urge other blue chip companies in
the country to invest part of their profits towards the sponsorship of major
sports in the country. As a proven unifying factor in the country, its
sponsorship should not be left in the hands of one company. Worldwide that is
the trend, away from government hands, into private sponsorships. That is where
the future of real sport development lies.
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