The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has promised to collaborate with sports stakeholders to develop and commercialize sports in the country.
The Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPCL, Mele Kyari made the pledge while receiving delegates from the National Sports Commission (NSC), the International Management Group (IMG), and the Afrosport Network at the oil company Towers on Thursday.
Kyari made known that NNPCL was ready to be part of the initiative to resuscitate the Nigeria’s sport sector.
The NNPCL GCEO in a statement through the group’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye was thrilled that the company would be part of the revamping of the nation’s football sector.
Kyari said: “NNPC will be a prime partner in the journey to bring back value to our football, to reshape it, re-engineer it to bring happiness to our people.”
He described football as a tool with immense value that could bring untold benefits to the Nigerian economy and the oil company.
Recall that the NNPCL once had a football club, named NNPC FC, based in Warrior, Delta State which played in the Division One of the then Nigeria National League (NNL) before its disbandment in 1989.
Speaking earlier, leader of the delegation, Alhaji Shehu Dikko, Chairman of NSC said best footballing nations sees the sport as fundamental to their economy growth.
Dikko stated that President Bola Tinibu had subsequently demanded swift action to revamp the sector.
However, he added that IMG which promotes the English Premier League (EPL), was invited as a technical partner to leverage their expertise in the sport.
The Chairman of NSC notes that the multiplier effects of football were enormous and could as well, facilitate the revamping of related industries across the value chain.
NAN
