Decree 101: 'I Told Ikhazoboh, It won't Work'
BY OMOLOLU KASSIM
IF Group Captain Anthony Ikhazoboh had been alive today, he would have had to answer one big query: Why is Nigerian Football Association (NFA) an appendage of the Sports Ministry?
As sports minister in the General Ibrahim Babangida's administration, late Ikhazoboh presided over the enactment of the controversial Decree 101 that is now receiving heavy knocks from FIFA.
A young man told Ikhazoboh then, that if the Sports Ministry had to pocket NFA, as it did, then football administration would turn into a lame duck.
That youngman has been vindicated today. He is Barrister Dudu Orumen.
"I had told Ikhazaboh," said Orumen, "that running sports with decrees won't work. I would have been happy if he had been alive today to do a debate with him."
Orumen, who had put in 14 years of legal service into the National Sports Commission, said that the controversial Decree 101 must either be repealed or amended in order to put sports in Nigeria on the same pedestal with global practice.
Orumen argued that FIFA is not saying anything new, adding that, as a legal practitioner in sports administration, he had presented to Ikhazoboh, 14 years ago, exactly what FIFA is saying today.
"I don't like gloating over things, but this is one instance I can't help doing that", he said, adding that Act 101 that is fondly called Decree 101 had crippled sports administration, especially football in this country.
Orumen explained that the composition of NFA under Decree 101 had been fundamentally flawed, and very inconsistent with global practice.
"In principle, when you say Association, there is the understanding that there is free will in the relationship," said Orumen, "but the decree had the force of a superior power. Having been enacted by the force of law during the Babangida's era, NFA loses the qualities of a free Association. FIFA forbids political interference in the administration of football. That is the crux of the matter."
He contends that the Secretary General of NFA should be responsible to the Board and not the Sports Ministry, as the case is. And, in any case, a situation where the government appoints members into the board rather than allowing for free election by members of the Association is dictatorial and inconsistent with international practice. Orumen laments that this, really, has been the bane of football administration in this country - which is exactly what FIFA is kicking against.
Orumen, who is a member of the committee working on the amendment of the obnoxious Decree 101 explains that FIFA has nothing against football practice in this country. "Well, we just have to tell FIFA that we recognise their grouse," he said, adding, "we are making the necessary amendments" as requested by the world football body.
The lawyer-cum-sports enthusiast said Board members of NFA may nurse palpable fear of losing their seats when the decree is amended, but he explained that the current Board will have to run its term to the end before such amendments can take effect.
What implications or effects will the amendment have on the administration of football, in particular and sports in general?
Orumen explains that the amendment will free Nigeria's football from the shackles of bureaucratic red-tapism, which had been bogging down our local league for years.
He explained that competent and knowledgeable professionals would be injected into the running of local league and make it comparable with UEFA Cup or Italian Series A.
To prove this point, Orumen himself gave the local league a big boost when he got Pepsi as sponsors between the years 1996 and 2000. It would be recalled that the Pepsi league was a tremendous improvement on Cadbury's sponsorship of the local football league.
"I'd told them that we can make something big out of football. We could get good sponsorship for the local league." It would be recalled that Orumen pulled N18 million out of Pepsi for the league in three years.
Orumen is not resting on his oars. He has already made MTN to sponsor Academicals footballs for the first time, in which all the 36 states of the federation are participating.
"Each state is presenting a team of Academicals where students are drawn from different schools," he said, adding that "you pool players from Baptist Academy, CMS Bariga, King's College, ... all into one team to represent, say, Lagos State."
For Orumen's experiment, MTN is paying N30 million alone for organisation of the events. This does not include other leverages like public relations, media coverage and so on.
Orumen argued strongly that if football is taken seriously in this country, it has the potentials of raking in millions of Naira, not only for the footballers but also for all those who are engaged in running the soccer industry.
He explained that with the liberalization of soccer, television broadcast rights alone will fetch over $1million. For instance, he said that already, Super Sports has expressed keen interest in buying TV rights of our local leagues. So also is Octagon.
"With such bright patronage in TV rights, we can pay every club N1 million," said Orumen, adding that this will pay part of their salary.
"When there is TV presence, football takes a monumental dimension", he said, adding that advertisers bring their goods and services to advertise on the TV because millions of people are watching football on TV. How many people go to the stadia? TV is where football is. TV football is big business. That is where we are taking our local league."
Orumen explained that with good pay packet, players would play real professional football that compares with international standards. Sponsors will come up more readily because there will be advertisement potentials on TV where millions of viewers are watching all over the world.
Meanwhile, Orumen runs Sportshaq, a rendezvous for upwardly mobile young men and women where they "can relax and unwind" after a hard day's work. Sportshaq has really become the place to be for people who want "to develop contact that will be useful in their business life."
After six years of operation at its Surulere, Lagos, base, Sportshaq has extended its tentacles to Victoria Island, where it is running an annex for the past five months.
Orumen who is 46 years old finds great joy and fulfilment in making sports the ultimate game.
