Elegbeleye deserves credit, not condemnation — Egbe

A sports infrastructure expert, Ebi Egbe, has called for a more balanced assessment of Gbenga Elegbeleye’s tenure as Chairman of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), insisting that the former league boss and his team should be recognised for the reforms and commercial gains recorded under their watch.

Egbe said while it is easy for critics outside the system to blame administrators for every challenge confronting the domestic game, it is more difficult to tackle the structural weaknesses, vested interests and long standing abnormalities from within.

He, however, argued that reforming Nigerian football requires patience and a willingness to acknowledge measurable progress.

“It is very easy to sit outside the system and apportion blame for everything that is wrong with Nigerian football. But when you are inside the system, confronting years of accumulated abnormalities, vested interests, poor structures and institutional weaknesses, the reality is completely different,” Egbe stated.

According to him, Elegbeleye’s administration helped strengthen the commercial foundation of the NPFL listing the involvement of GTI as an investment partner, the return of regular television coverage through StarTimes and the expansion of live streaming through Propel Sports Africa.

He added, “The 2023/24 season, for instance, recorded 76 live matches on StarTimes and 218 streamed matches, while Propel achieved a record nine of 10 matches streamed simultaneously on the final day.

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“Under Elegbeleye’s leadership, Rangers won the 2023/24 NPFL title, while the league subsequently recorded further commercial growth.

“The 2024/25 season was completed on its originally scheduled date an achievement that addressed one of the league’s long standing organisational problems.

“You cannot correct decades of abnormalities overnight. It takes time, courage, consistency and, most importantly, the willingness to confront the problems rather than pretend they do not exist.”

He pointed to the NPFL’s increasing commercial value, including the recently announced $7.5 million, three-year EUROMATCH title sponsorship agreement, under which 60 per cent of the sponsorship revenue is expected to go directly to clubs to improve players’ wages and welfare.

Egbe said that the efforts to improve the welfare of match officials, strengthen discipline, improve broadcasting, attract investment and enhance the commercial appeal of the league should not be dismissed simply because significant challenges remain.

He, however, acknowledged that the NPFL is far from perfect and still requires substantial improvements in infrastructure, consistency, officiating, club administration and commercialisation. However, he warned against condemning an entire administration while overlooking tangible gains made during its tenure.

“From my perspective as a licensed players’ agent who retired 20 years ago and now into infrastructure, Gbenga Elegbeleye was on the right path in trying to correct some of the structural abnormalities within the NPFL and reposition the league commercially.

“We should learn to distinguish between constructive criticism and unfair condemnation. If we genuinely want to rebuild Nigerian football, we must encourage those making measurable progress while continuing to demand better standards.”

“The NPFL is not perfect. There is still a lot of work to be done. But let us not destroy every positive development simply because the system is not yet where we want it to be. Reforming Nigerian football is not a sprint. It is a process.

“And sometimes, the people doing the difficult work deserve credit before we ask them to do even more,” he concluded.

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