Chairman of Nigeria National League, (NNL) Mr. George Aluo, has said that the present board of the second-tier league under his watch has in less than one year in office succeeded in changing the narratives of the most important league in the country even as he commended sportswriters for being partners in progress with the league body.
Speaking with journalists in Lagos as a special guest of the just concluded Paddysco Sports Award, Aluo described the league and Super 8 at Enugu as a huge success noting that the league house will build on the successes recorded to prosecute a more successful league next season.
“The just concluded league was a huge success and let me start by saying a very big thank you to my colleagues. They’ve been wonderful.The support they’ve given us has been massive and don’t forget that football is a media event and as we tried to change the narratives, my colleagues in the media cued in and as such they deserve special recognition for their role in supporting the NNL.
“I decided to single out the media because if we’re doing a good job and the media refuses to put us on the spotlight, we won’t be able to make Nigerians appreciate what we’re doing,” he stressed
Aluo explained that when the present board took over July last year, the NNL was described as cash and carry league while some people described it as Inter House League but in less than one year on the saddle, the perception has changed.
According to him, when the NFF President, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau gave him the mandate to lead the NNL, he felt it was a challenge because he knew that other journalists who have been there before him namely; Fan Ndubuoke, Mitchel Obi, Danladi Bako, Mainasara Iloh and Paul Bassey performed excellently well and with Aisha Falode being on the board of NFF with him, he has no reason to fail.
“When the NFF President Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau first appointed me as the chairman of NNL, I saw it as a challenge because other journalists before me performed excellently well on the NNL. But today I can beat my chest to say that after one year, we have re- branded the league.
The NNL boss further described the Super 8 as a testimony to the fact that 8 teams that came to Enugu got there on merit and at the end of the day, the best four teams were promoted to the NPFL positing that it was the excellent administrative frame work put in place that enabled an academy team like Beyond Limits to gain promotion to the elite league which goes to show the quality of the league and that there was a level playing ground.
