By Onochie Anibeze
Chief Victor Baribote yesterday met the media in Lagos and showed that he may run a transparent and possibly dynamic league which which could improve the lot of the Nigerian player.

He made public the statement of bank accounts of the League Board for all to know how much that was left in the coffers as he resumes as chairman of the new board.

Baribote felt that there was nothing to hide and that Nigerians needed to know how rich or poor their League Board is, their prospects, aspirations and challenges.

He summed up by saying that the league belonged to Nigeria and that the clubs hold the authority which his board would always respect and actually comply with. He said that his board would try to be professional in implementing the decisions of the owners of the league, the clubs. That is how he plans to run the league.

Financial consultants to the board were with him. And going by their records, the Nigeria Premier League, as at September 21, had a total of N17,572,814 (Seventeen Million, Five Hundred and Seventy Two, Eight Hundred and Fourteen Naira) in their Zenith Bank and ETB accounts. This is the amount that the new board would take off with. Members of the media found this amount ridiculous and wondered how he would run the league successfully with such poor resources. Of course, there are debts but Baribote hopes to hang on until the league attracts sponsors. There’s also periodic payment of money from broadcast fees the worth of which they really don’t know since the past board involved an intermediary. Supersport, the cable television in question, has also never disclosed the true amount of the broadcast fee to the League Board. They pay directly to an agent who in turn pays the board.

Baribote hopes to be briefing the media on their balance sheets from time to time and would do everything possible to respect future sponsors of the league and ensure their visibility and other benefits that should accrue to them as sponsors.

The other major thing Barbote emphasized was the need for a collective effort to make the Nigerian league vibrant.

“I have resumed as chairman of the league and this is time for reconciliation, a time for the league to move on, a time to rebuild. I am not ready to witch hunt anybody. I’m ready to build and it is a job for all of us. If I fail, Nigeria has failed. I hope not to fail.

I just felt that the public should know what they have in their league, what we met in our account which is what we are taking off with. I don’t want to go further because the board will still meet in Abuja and we will work collectively because the clubs will be involved in everything that we shall do. We will involve them.”

Asked if the frictions about elections would not continue he said that the clubs elected him and he did not envisage from the majority of the clubs since he became chairman courtesy of their mandate.

One of the challenges of the new board is to find sponsors for the league. They have N100m loan from the past board to settle. The loan was taken from GTB. Globacom sponsored the league to the tune of N690m before they pulled.