SAN FRANCISCO, November 11, (THEWILL) – The drive of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) towards being financially independent received a major boost yesterday. The Federation entered a partnership deal with automobile giant, CIG Motors, in Lagos. The three-year deal has been described as one of the highest in value in recent times by the NFF.
The ceremony was held at CIG Motors office in Victoria Island, Lagos. At the event were top sports personalities including Afolabi Olalekan Rasheed the Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Amaju Pinnick, the NFF President, Seyi Akinwunmi, first vice president and Mohammed Sanusi, the General Secretary.
A visibly elated Pinnick revealed that among other things, the company would give brand new cars to the following NFF officials: Augustine Eguavoen, the newly appointed Technical Director of the NFF, Gernot Rohr, the Super Eagles’ coach, Pinnick himself in his capacity as the NFF President, and Mohammed Sanusi, the NFF General Secretary.
The football administrator also stated that, courtesy of the deal with the Motor company, the football house would have an official ambulance for the first time.
“CIG Motors is one of the biggest brands in Asia, and we are happy with what they are giving to us,” Pinnick noted with appreciation.
“As soon as the technical director is unveiled, he will get a car. There is one for Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr, myself, and the General Secretary. CIG Motors is also giving NFF an ambulance. Our dream is to become 100 percent self-funding before the end of next year. We thank CIG Motors for this wonderful partnership, and I want to assure them that we will respect every part of this agreement.”
Sanusi, the NFF General Secretary, who signed the deal on behalf of the football house, expressed the general optimism of the Federation that the partnership would bring many positives to the motor company and the Federation.
In his remarks, the Vice-chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Afolabi Rasheed, thanked the auto firm for the partnership. He also commended the leadership of the NFF for making the deal a reality.
Responding for the company, Chief Diana Chen, the chairman of CIG Motors, sole distributors of GAC vehicles in Nigeria, applauded the partnership as an opportunity for both parties to show good examples in Nigeria.
“Everyone is facing big challenges to survive now, but we are very hopeful that tomorrow will be better. Since 2014, CIG Motors has been sponsoring sporting events in Nigeria. We started with the Lagos City Marathon, and we also sponsored the ASABA 2018 African Senior Athletics Championship. Next week, we will sponsor the Kaduna City Marathon. We will continue to do our best to make Nigerian sports better.”
On their own part, the Super Eagles promised to make Nigeria and CIG Motors proud by always doing their best starting with a win against the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone in Friday’s 2021 AFCON qualifiers in Benin City.
Ebere Paul Onuachu of the Belgian side Genk, who represented the Super Eagles at yesterday’s automobile partnership deal signing ceremony, said the team would do everything possible to put smiles on the faces of their fans, the NFF, and officials of CIG Motors.
The striker who replaced the injured FC Nantes winger Moses Simon said, “We are excited to be here. We do our talking inside the pitch, and I want to assure everyone that the team will go for victory against Sierra Leone on Friday in Benin City.”
Super Eagles’ striker Samuel Chukwueze of Villarreal, also attended the ceremony.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
