Barely one week since his re-election as the president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick has begun making and strengthening connections with the country’s top business tycoons, as he moves to fulfill his promise to Nigerians for a financially independent NFF.
Pinnick invited Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola to the most prestigious events in world football, the FIFA Best Awards Ceremony, held in London on Monday night.
It was more of work than play for the NFF boss and first Vice President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), who was quite thrilled that both Dangote and Otedola honored his invitation — more-so, because both men had a swell time meeting and interacting with the world’s top governors of football.
“Our objective as a Football Federation is to attain financial autonomy so that the government can channel resources otherwise taken up by football into other critical sectors, and we believe that if we have persons like Dangote and Otedola partnering with Nigerian Football, we will get there faster.”
— Pinnick
The NFF has previously invited Dangote to a couple of matches, including the friendly match with England in London before the FIFA World Cup in Russia, but, he was unable to attend.
However, in the light of recent events, there is a possibility that the Nigeria football governing body may get a new partner in the form of the Dangote Group soon.