Senator Orji Uzor Kalu who is the Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate has explained why he believes Nigerian politicians shy away from identifying with football in the country or investing in them.
Senator Kalu disclosed this while fielding questions from journalists, on a WhatsApp platform called NSM Reloaded which was monitored by Africa Daily News, New York he stated that football in Nigeria is not profitable and requires a lot of sacrifices and passion, and investments for anyone to succeed in the project.
The former governor of Abia State, going down memory lane, revealed that the success Enyimba Football Club of Aba recorded during his tenure as governor was because of his commitment, investment, and self-sacrifices.
Read Also: Senate Approves Buhari’s $2.6bn Foreign Loan Request
‘Nigerian football is not profitable because there are no infrastructures and it is not something anybody can run.
‘I was almost turning Enyimba into be a profitable team in 2000 downwards. When I left, a lot of scenarios came into play, the Osisikankwu scenario and the insecurities in Aba, because immediately I left, they started attacking Aba which made it impossible for investment in football.
‘We don’t have the infrastructure to be able to place football to where it is supposed to be. We needed a rail line, we needed electricity, we needed for me to stay in Abuja and enter the train at 9 am or 12 pm and go to Aba to be there to watch the match live by 3 pm.
‘These are the infrastructures we don’t have, these are investments we need to make to be able to get our football where we want it to be.
‘We don’t have income. Our people do not have stable income; traders today might not be a trader tomorrow. So we have a stable economy to have a steady income because the economy has to be well developed for us to be able to move forward and see what tomorrow says. Without all these things, we cannot go far in developing football in the country‘ he concluded.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
