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Confusion In NPFL: League to resume next month-LMC, Club Owners Votes To End Season With PPG

Published

6 years ago

June 22, 2020

Justina Akanbi

Reactions have trailed the voting conducted by the Club Owners Association of Nigerian, COAN, on Sunday, to end the 2019/2020 Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL season with the PPG while no team would be relegated.

On Sunday night, 17 out of the 20 club owners voted to end the league via Point Per Match, PPG system.

The voting and decision came weeks after League Management Company Chairman; Malam Shehu Dikko announced that the Nigeria Football Federation might adopt a Super Six Playoff to end the league.

But in a twist of the event Sunday, the club owners met and voted to end the league as well as declaring that there would be no promoted or relegated teams from or to the NPFL.

In a swift reaction, one of the clubs which abstained from the meeting, Lobi Starts of Markudi have alleged that the voting process was manipulated by the leadership of COAN to achieve a predetermined plan.

In a very strongly worded long press release on Monday signed by the Club’s media officer, Austin Tyowua, the club dissociated itself from the purported election and questioned its credibility as well as the result therefrom

The club wondered how information for a meeting with such voting agenda to end the league could be communicated to the club owners same the day the meeting and voting took place.

“To buttress our conviction that the result of the voting was premeditated;

“How can you explain a situation where 18 out of 20 of the NPFL Clubs, wholly owned and funded by State Governments with decision-making boards and a decision as crucial as voting on ending the league will be communicated to Club chairmen same day on a non-working day and the voting the process was still expected to take place the same day as if the Chairmen are not accountable to other authorities. Another pointer that laid validity to the strong suspicion of premeditation of the entire process,” the club said.

Lobi further called on the minister of sports and the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF to disregard the outcome of the election and consider the situation on merit.

“We hereby call on the Minister of Sports and The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to disregard the charade displayed by the club owners in an attempt to perpetrate the PPG illegality, look at the merit of the matter and make sure a fair and conventional option is arrived at.”

The Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) will resume in July, with the League Management Company (LMC) getting the go-ahead to restart the season and jettisoning the proposed Point Per Game (PPG).

The Gleamer Online News gathered authoritatively that the NPFL would go ahead with the teams playing all remaining matches including those with outstanding games before the suspension of the league due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the source did not indicate how the matches would be played, especially taking into consideration the Federal Government’s the interstate travel ban, he nonetheless said the position of the Youth and Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, is that the NPFL will resume next month while all other leagues; the Nigeria National League, the Nigeria Nationwide League and the women’s league has been officially declared ended.

It was gathered that the Nigeria Club Owners had proposed for the NPFL to end with the PPG while no team would be relegated but our a source in the ministry said the minister was not favorably disposed to the idea, considering the litigations that had dogged the French Ligue after the country’s football body announced the abrupt conclusion of the season.

It was also not clear whether the teams will gather in a city to play the proposed Super 6 initially propounded by the chairman of the LMC, Mallam Shehu Dikko. It would be recalled that Benin, Edo State capital was mooted as a venue for the proposed Super 6, raising concern how the league body would cope with the influx of players and officials of all the six teams in the face of the rampaging coronavirus pandemic.

However, Plateau United Football Club may be declared winners of the 2019/2020 Nigeria Professional Football League season after 17 chairmen of clubs voted that the season should come to a premature end due to the Coronavirus pandemic ravaging the world.

It seems likely that Plateau United the 2017 NPFL Champions will be named winners of the 2019/2020 season without officially winning the title.

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Strategic Partnerships, Diaspora Investment and Improved Workforce Critical to Industrialization-DG RMRDC

Published

2 days ago

November 12, 2026

The Gleamer

By: Stella Azi and Adaora Adibe

The Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, has called for a strategic shift from the exportation of raw commodities to domestic processing, manufacturing and value addition, declaring that Nigeria possesses enormous untapped raw material resources capable of driving industrialisation, creating jobs and strengthening the country’s economic competitiveness.

Prof. Ike-Muonso made this submission in a lecture titled Unlocking Nigeria’s Raw Material Value Chain for Industrialization, Manufacturing and Competitiveness, where he presented an extensive assessment of Nigeria’s resource endowments, industrial challenges and emerging investment opportunities across agricultural commodities, solid minerals and waste-based raw materials.

The lecture highlighted a combined US$2.65 trillion global market opportunity across 30 major raw material value chains, comprising 12 agricultural value chains valued at US$932 billion, 11 mineral value chains worth US$1.352 trillion and seven circular-economy value chains estimated at US$366 billion.

According to the RMRDC Boss, Nigeria must move beyond the traditional approach of extracting and exporting raw materials to building competitive domestic industries that transform these resources into intermediate products, industrial inputs and finished goods for local consumption and international markets.

He observed that the country’s manufacturing sector has struggled to sustain its 2014 peak, with its contribution to real Gross Domestic Product declining from 9.64 per cent in 2014 to 8.05 per cent in 2025, representing a 16.5 per cent decline. He also drew attention to the increasing cost of raw material imports, which rose to US$20.5 billion in 2025, approximately six times the 2020 level.

He explained that the growing dependence on imported industrial inputs exposes Nigerian manufacturers to foreign exchange volatility, increases production costs and weakens the competitiveness of locally manufactured products.

Prof. ke-Muonso stressed that the solution lies in developing domestic raw material value chains through deliberate investment in processing facilities, research and development, technology, infrastructure and stronger linkages between producers, processors and manufacturers.

He identified agriculture, solid minerals and industrial waste as three major resource platforms for Nigeria’s industrial transformation, stating the country’s significant production capacity and the enormous opportunities available for downstream processing.

Ike-Muonso noted that Nigeria produces over 63 million metric tonnes of cassava annually, making it the world’s largest producer, while also maintaining strong positions in cocoa, cashew, sesame, palm oil and cotton. However, more than 80 per cent of agricultural output leaves farms without adequate processing, resulting in the loss of significant economic value and industrial opportunities.

In the solid minerals sector, he identified more than 44 commercially viable minerals across over 500 locations, including lithium, gold, barite, bitumen, iron ore and high-grade limestone, describing them as strategic resources capable of supporting steel production, energy storage, electrification and advanced manufacturing.

The DG further drew attention to Nigeria’s industrial and agro-waste resources, noting that the country generates over 32 million tonnes of solid waste annually. He explained that agricultural residues, cassava peels, scrap metals, plastics and electronic waste could serve as important feedstock for bio-fertilisers, industrial chemicals, recycled polymers, energy production and other manufacturing applications.

In the agricultural sector, the DG identified cassava and industrial starch, cotton and natural textiles, natural rubber and elastomers, oil palm and oleochemicals, maize derivatives and cocoa processing as priority areas requiring increased investment.

He explained that processing agricultural commodities into industrial starch, sweeteners, textiles, technical rubber, specialty fats and other intermediate products would enable Nigeria to capture more value from its agricultural resources while reducing dependence on imported industrial inputs.

For the minerals sector, he highlighted crude oil-to-olefins and petrochemicals, lithium and energy storage, iron ore and steel, rare earth elements, bauxite and aluminium, and copper and electrification as strategic investment opportunities.

He particularly emphasised the importance of moving beyond mineral extraction into beneficiation, refining, battery precursors, industrial chemicals, metal fabrication and advanced materials production.

On the circular economy, Prof. Ike-Muonso identified electronic waste recovery, scrap metal recycling, plastic waste processing, agro-waste valorisation and battery recycling as emerging industrial opportunities.

He explained that transforming waste into productive industrial feedstock would not only reduce environmental pollution but also create new manufacturing industries, generate employment and reduce the importation of valuable industrial materials.

He noted that to address the structural challenges confronting raw material-based industrialisation, the DG highlighted the strategic interventions of the RMRDC, particularly the proposed 30% Value Addition Bill and the Nigeria Integrated Information Statistical System for Raw Materials and Products (NISSRAMP).

He described the 30% Value Addition Bill as an important policy instrument designed to encourage domestic processing of raw materials before export, strengthen local manufacturing capacity and guarantee access to essential raw materials for Nigerian industries, and NISSRAMP as a critical data infrastructure that would improve access to verified information on the availability, location and quality of raw materials.

According to him, the combination of appropriate policy instruments and reliable resource data would help de-risk investments, improve transparency and strengthen confidence in Nigeria’s raw material sector.

He emphasised the importance of collaboration among government, academia and industry in developing bankable projects, sharing investment risks and accelerating the establishment of processing and manufacturing facilities.

Professor Ike-Muonso called on Nigerians in the diaspora and other local and international investors to take advantage of the opportunities available in Nigeria’s raw material sector.

He identified industrial processing parks, mineral beneficiation and refining, agro-industrial platforms, circular-material processing, industrial input manufacturing and enabling infrastructure as viable investment platforms.

He noted that diaspora investors could contribute beyond financial capital by bringing technology, international business networks, governance standards, technical expertise and access to global markets.

He maintained that Nigeria’s industrial transformation requires coordinated investment across the entire value chain, from raw material sourcing and aggregation to processing, manufacturing, certification and export development.

Professor Ike-Muonso stressed that the country’s industrial future would depend not merely on the volume of raw materials extracted but on the capacity to transform them into competitive products that meet domestic and international market requirements.

He maintained that developing local value chains would stimulate industrial growth, create employment opportunities, diversify exports, conserve foreign exchange and deepen Nigeria’s technological capabilities.

Through its strategic interventions, the RMRDC is positioning itself as a critical bridge between resource availability, investment opportunities and industrial competitiveness, with the ultimate objective of transforming Nigeria from a predominantly raw material exporting economy into a strong manufacturing and value-adding nation.

Ike-Muonso has demonstrated this since assumption of office as the Director General/ CEO RMRDC in the area of capacity building, improved working conditions, promotion of merit, and maintaining a conducive environment that rewards excellence, innovation and dedication. This is evident in his institution of RMRDC training school, reward for winners of the RMRDC innovation challenge among others.

His commitment has brought recognition both nationally and internationally: Al-Jazirah double honour awards as Public Servant /Government Agency of the year 2024-2025 and the recent election as the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Representative on the Board of the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organisations (WAITRO) is a attestation to his commitment.

Concluding the lecture, the DG charged staff, researchers, manufacturers and investors to see themselves as nation builders in the new era of raw materials-led industrialization.

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