The appointment of Match-Fixing Investigation Officers by the Nigeria Football Federation has been described as a further boost to the on-going reforms of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) sponsored by Globacom Limited.
This was the position expressed by Chairman of the League Management Company (LMC), Nduka Irabor in reaction to the announcement made Wednesday by the NFF and listing Dr. Mohammed Sanusi and Dr. Christian Emeruwa as Integrity Officer and Match-Fixing Investigative Officer respectively.
Irabor who commended the leadership of the Federation for the step, pledged that the LMC will work closely with the NFF and Law agencies in the fight to prevent such tendencies that could undermine fundamental principles of the game.
He also pointed out that while enforcement of compliance to rules of the game lies with the regulatory bodies such as the LMC and NFF, the policing of the game to ensure integrity of matches remains a general responsibility of all those involved in football including fans, corporate sponsors and the club administrators and players.
“We must come to terms with the fact that despite efforts at ensuring compliance at the regulatory levels, the task of keeping the game credible is a task for members of the community, particularly players, club managers, match officials and ball fans themselves”, Irabor stressed.
The appointment of the officers by the NFF is in line with developments in world football as initiated by the governing body, FIFA which created offices of Integrity Officers and Match-Fixing Investigative Officers as part of the campaign to rid football of external corruptive influences. The officers are to handle all reports relating to match fixing to the named officers to deal with and report to the federation.
Irabor, it will be recalled pledged at the start of the season that the LMC will not take lightly any report or hints of match fixing. The LMC boss had said then, “the League shall treat match fixing or manipulation, even with the remotest bearing on the game, as acts intended to undermine not only the game but also the laws of the land”.
