Let me first make a confession: I’m not a good follower of football. I don’t follow or support any football club, whether Nigerian or foreign. Yes, I have a passing interest in football because the game is full of more emotion than I can handle. Of course, I can sit through a soccer game and enjoy the various moves by the skillful players. I also enjoy the arguments by fellow spectators (of course, I can’t watch a match alone!). I stopped following football closely in 2005 when the Super Eagles failed to beat Angola to qualify for the World Cup in Kano.
That day, I almost collapsed from the rigour of screaming as I endured the lack-lustre performance of the Nigerian national team. However, when I read some days ago that Africa’s wealthiest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, had expressed renewed interest in buying Forbes seventh most valuable teams, Arsenal FC, I was excited. This is how Telegraph of London reported it: “Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote claims he still harbours hopes of one day buying Arsenal. The Nigerian has an estimated fortune of £10.4billion and is reported to have wanted to buy into the club when former director Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith was selling her shares in 2010. Arsenal’s current majority shareholder is American tycoon Stan Kroenke, who remains committed to the Barclays Premier League club for the long-term. Uzbek magnate Alisher Usmanov controls around 30 per cent and has also expressed no desire to offload any of his stock. “Nevertheless Dangote, whose business interests include sugar, flour and oil, remains keen to become part of the Emirates Stadium club sometime in the future.
Speaking to Bloomberg, he said: “I still hope, one day at the right price, that I will buy the team. “I might buy it, not at a ridiculous price but a price that the owners won’t want to resist. I know my strategy.” Dangote, though, added no imminent bid was in the pipeline. “We have $16 billion-worth of investments in the next few years. Right now I want to take my own business to a certain level. Once I finish on that trajectory, then maybe,” he said. Dangote, however, suggested Arsene Wenger’s side should be achieving more. He added: “(Wenger) needs to change his style a bit. They need new direction.” Expectedly, opinions have been divided as to whether Dangote made the right decision in gunning for Arsenal, which are one of UK’s biggest clubs, and are worth $1.31billion (£859million), according to Forbes.
There was the school of thought that he should have actually set his sights on buying a Nigerian club and investing in the domestic league. Some even went further to say that since he makes much of his money in Nigeria, he should begin his own charity at home by investing in the local league. Good point except that I feel it does not capture the seamless nature of business investments in the 21st century. In today’s world, investors like Dangote don’t base their business decisions on sentiments. It’s all about the money. Yes, they may think of being patriotic and pushing some or much of their money into their own country’s economy. However, sentiments will not bring the expected results except they are correctly defined. No investor wants to throw money away simply because people expect him or her to spend money in his or her native country. Now, this is not to say that the Nigeria league is not profitable or viable. Far from it. My focus is on the fact that where charity begins is for the organisers of the league to make it more viable and remove obstacles and bottlenecks that impede the commercial value of football and other sports in Nigeria. I know that someone will remind me that the Nigerian Football Federation has just signed a juicy three and half year deal with Nike worth $1 million in the first year. Under the deal, any of the national teams that qualifies for a major international championships will earn other bonuses.
Thus, the Super Eagles will earn up to $500,000 at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia. But what is the state of the domestic league? Not much to write home about. There are still complaints about governmental interference and lack of adequate encouragement from sporting authorities for the growth of the sport. No wonder young Nigerian footballers find a way to escape to foreign lands to build a career. There are also complaints about the overbearing influence of coaches on the sport in Nigeria. The infighting in the league between stakeholders continues to make a mockery of the expectations of Nigerians for a league that is both commercially viable and world-class. A brilliant article on the website of the League Management Company describes the emergence of the UK Premiership thus: In 1992, top-flight English football clubs resigned from the Football League to operate a commercially independent league under license from the Football Association.
The aim was to increase revenue accruing to the top-flight clubs (through commercial independence) and enhance their competitiveness amongst their European counterparts. Clearly, this model has worked, since the Premiership clubs in England have repeatedly recorded the highest spending ability among the top five European leagues. The Premiership is managed by a Board of Directors, comprising a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) appointed by the participating clubs, but none of whom is an official of any of the clubs. This guarantees administrative independence, integrity and absence of conflict of interest. The members of the Board are usually professionals with sound business track records, appointed to manage the league. Their experience has helped the league to attract lucrative broadcast and sponsorship deals, culminating in increased revenue for the clubs to build upon. This is an example of the Independent Board governance structure.” The article, which traced the advent of the League Management Company, lists incessant power tussles as one of the major challenges of the Nigerian league. It also lists the implementation of club licensing requirements as another area where the domestic league needs some improvement. It concludes thus:
The legitimacy of the LMC model is presently hinged on the licensing agreement entered into between the NFF and the LMC and the next step would be to reflect same in the statutes of the NFF. This authority given by the NFF to the LMC to organize the NPFL is compliant with definition of a League in the NFF Statues – a body that has been granted authority by the NFF to organize competition. As for the clubs, they need to embrace this new model, wake up to its positive realities and welcome the idea of ensuring that they improve technically and administratively to meet licensing requirements.
The only election that the club chairmen should be talking about is that of electing their representatives into the LMC board; the NFF (represented by its President) and the independent chairman are already signed on as the initial subscribers, awaiting the notification of those selected by the clubs as their representatives on the board. The truth is that unlike the NFL/NPL, which did not have the league clubs or their representatives as members of the company, the LMC model is actually more inclusive of clubs. In the light of the above, it is unfathomable why anyone would resist the progressive change that the LMC model represents, especially in the light of the improved sponsorship and broadcast deals already secured, which are testaments to the potential for development. All over the world, leagues and football clubs have had to review their legal structure and this has had a positive impact on not only their technical, administrative and financial capabilities.
With the LMC model already on course, one is scared to imagine what it portends for the Nigerian league if the league governance model reverts to what it was under the Nigeria Premier League.” Now, with these hurdles yet to be crossed, will it make sense for Dangote to tie his money down on a Nigerian club and toy with the prospects of his investments disappearing? Another aspect is the fact that any sensible investor looks for a good terrain to put their money. As such, if Dangote, with his business experience, believes that UK is the best sporting investment ground for him, I don’t see anything wrong with it. It is for this reason that foreign investors come into the Nigerian economy with loads of cash to buy into or acquire Nigerian companies. If it is convenient for foreigners to control vital economic interests in Nigeria, why is it wrong for us to expect our billionaires not to do same? Money, afterall, does not recognise geographical boundaries or sentiments.
The English Premier League is so lucrative that it rakes in billions of naira for cable TV firms every year. I believe it will help the image of Nigeria for Dangote to extend his investing streak to Europe and other big investment destinations. Nigerians must compete in the big leagues of investing worldwide so that the international community will begin to take us seriously. Past administrations made a big mistake by not supporting our big entrepreneurs to invest in foreign countries. Had it been Nigerian businessmen had pumped billions of naira into South Africa, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Namibia and other nations which we spent resources helping out of bondage, we would have a solid economy today.
Had the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation been run like a serious business, investing in foreign and local refineries, we would not be in a mess today. All in all, I applaud Dangote for seeking to extend his investing streak beyond Africa’s borders to other frontiers. My hope is that as time goes on, we will reorganise our local league and attract the right kind of investors, including Dangote.