N2bn prize alone cannot fix NPFL – Gara-Gombe – Daily Trust

A former Chairman of the Gombe State Football Association, Alhaji Ahmed Gara-Gombe, has said that increasing the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) prize money, including the proposed N2 billion reward for league champions, will not address the deep-rooted challenges confronting Nigerian football.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Gara-Gombe argued that while the proposed prize was attractive, sustainable growth in the domestic league depended on addressing structural deficiencies rather than focusing solely on financial incentives.
“You can offer N10 billion to the league champions, but if the fundamentals are not in place, the league will continue to struggle,” he said.
According to him, a successful football league must be built on eight critical pillars: good governance, a strong capital base, commercial viability, modern infrastructure, competent administrators, player welfare, fan engagement and professional refereeing.
Gara-Gombe expressed concern over the poor state of football infrastructure, noting that only a handful of stadiums in Nigeria meet international standards.
He described the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo as the country’s most dependable venue for continental competitions, recalling that several Nigerian clubs had been forced to relocate CAF matches because their home grounds failed to satisfy required standards.
He also blamed poor officiating for undermining the credibility of the NPFL, saying it had contributed to the emergence of undeserving champions.
“Today, we produce poor champions because they are products of poor officiating,” he said, while calling for improved referee training, monitoring and accountability. He further advocated the criminalisation of match-fixing, insisting that football manipulation should attract legal sanctions beyond sporting penalties.
On football administration, Gara-Gombe defended his support for Nigeria Football Federation President Ibrahim Gusau’s second-term bid, arguing that continuity would enable Nigerians to fairly assess his leadership since many of the sport’s challenges predate the current administration.