4th November, 2019
By Taiwo Okanlawon
Nigeria’s Sports Minister, Mr Sunday Dare has promised to get all major stakeholders in the industry together before the end of the month with a view to getting sponsorship for the Nigeria Women Professional League.
Mr Dare made the promise while attending the NWPL Super Four final at Agege Stadium, as he hailed the quality of the competition displayed by the teams and the league’s improving standards.
Rivers Angels clinched the trophy after pipping Confluence Queens while Bayelsa Queens came third after thrashing Adamawa Queens 4-0.
Addressing the crowd after the games, the minister said he was impressed by the performances of the female players.
“We have seen female professional football at its best,” he said.
“The question should be, with this level of professional skills we have seen on display today, what would the ministry do more to help them?
“We’ve seen the exhibition of talents, we know some of our footballers are headed for the Professional League outside of this country.”
“All I can say is that the Sports Ministry would partner with the Nigeria Football Federation and we will also try to see that we get the sponsorship to support them to do better.”
“We will meet with all the key stakeholders before the end of November to start to draw a strategic plan on how to improve the domestic league.”
“As I said earlier, it is very critical, it is the engine room of our football development, that’s where we produce our professional players that can go abroad.”
The minister also promised that his ministry will pay close attention working with the NFF, the club owners and the referees and coaches to isolate the issues and deal with them.