Sports Minister and Chairman, National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi has assured sponsors that nothing would happen to any sponsorship deal properly documented with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Nigerian Premier League (NPL).

The Minister, who gave the assurance during the inauguration of a 13-man Advisory and Coordinating Committee for the London 2012 Olympics, maintained that the Federal High court judgement against the football houses, will not in any way threaten the  investments of sponsors.

“Relating to the issue of court ruling against the NFF and NPL, I want to use this opportunity to address the issue of apprehensions among the sponsors and partners to the football house especially the league body, concerning what would happen to the contractual agreement they signed, in view of the court order.

“I want to assure everyone through the media any contract properly entered and documented with whether NFF or NPL, will be respected regardless of what happens to these institutions concerning the case in court,” he assured.

Speaking further on the problem ravaging Nigerian football, Abdullahi said that “”we held a stakeholders meeting in Lagos recently to discuss the lingering issue, and I can tell you that I’m getting familiar with the situation having been posted to the ministry newly. As I said in that meeting, the problem with Nigerian football is not lack of technical competence, it is not also legal, it is largely political.

“Therefore, since it is political, we will have to find ways to negotiate and bring the warring factions on board. It is not as if we cannot wake up and decide what to do, we have that courage and capacity to do it, but we feel it is better to explore peaceful means of resolving it.

“However, if given the reasonable time we set for ourselves, we were unable to peacefully resolve it in a way to advance Nigerian football, then we will have to explore the alternative arrangement. I can however tell you that on a daily basis, we are working to resolve the problem and I believe we will soon overcome”, added Abdullahi.