CBN assures of commitment to football development in Nigeria

THE country’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has assured of its commitment to the promotion and development of football in Nigeria as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

This was revealed by the bank’s Acting Director, Corporate Communication, Mr Isaac Okoroafor, at a press briefing heralding the 30th edition of the All Financial Institutions Football Competition held at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Glass House secretariat in Abuja.

Represented by the Head, Internal Communications, Mr Martins Ogwuda, the bank assured that it would continue to sponsor the competition, which it noted was a platform for the promotion of unity, harmony and peaceful coexistence among institutions operating within Nigeria’s financial system.

According to Okoroafor, “The CBN is therefore committed to making positive contributions to the promotion and development of football by sponsoring the competition annually.

“A competition of this magnitude serves as a platform for promotion of unity, harmony and peaceful co-existence among institutions operating within Nigeria’s financial system.”

He noted that football was a unifying force in the country devoid of ethnic, religious and political colourations, urging management of financial institutions in both private and public sectors which had never participated in the competition to register their teams for the next edition.

He informed that 20 teams from the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), financial regulatory agencies and other financial institutions had indicated interest in participating in this year’s edition of the competition, in which ex-internationals like the late Stephen Keshi, Henry Nwosu, Pascal Patrick, among others had participated in the past.

Okoroafor informed that the winner of this year’s competition, like it happened last year, would go home with N2million price money, while the second placed team would win N1.5 million.

Both third place winner and fourth place winner would go home with N1million and N500,000 respectively.

While, expressing the hope that participating teams would put up an impressive performance with a view to facilitating the spirit of sportsmanship and social bonding, the CBN expressed gratitude to the NFF for working with it in mobilizing an appreciable number of financial institutions to participate in this year’s edition.

Also speaking at the event, the NFF Secretary General, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, represented by the Acting Director, Competition, Bola Oyeyode, stated that the federation appreciated the partnership wit CBN with regards to the competition.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria has done very, very well to sustain this competition for the past 30 years and despite the current hard situations, they still find resources to put in place this year’s edition,” Sanusi stated.

He assured that the NFF on its part would continue to provide the technical support to make competition more successful this year, declaring that, “over the years, the NFF/CBN Financial Institutions Football Competition has added glamour to our football calendar and it has been one of the side attractions of local football.”