Chairman of the League Management Company (LMC) Nduka Irabor has pledged the support of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) for the Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) partnership of the global AIDS awareness initiative ‘Protect the Goal’ campaign launched by President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday.
A December 2013 report on the AIDS pandemic show that 3.1% of the about 119m youths and young adult population aged between 15-49 years are infected by the HIV virus.
Irabor said the LMC will be support the NFF to drive the awareness on the dangers of and preventive measures to curb HIV, at all Glo Premier League matches which attract this critical segment of the vulnerable demographic with signage that will be displayed on perimeter boards at all live broadcast of star matches every week.
“We support the NFF’s involvement in this initiative for several reasons starting with the importance of taking this message to our players, their peers and fans who represent a critical demographic group for which this message is even more urgent. LMC is also aligning with the NFF on this campaign because football league venues attract the critical and highly vulnerable groups in the society made up of the biggest clusters of sexually active youth population and others who due to limited education are not being adequately exposed to HIV campaigns that run largely on mediums like television and the new social media etc”, remarked Irabor.
He said in recognition of new age communication trends, the LMC would also carry the campaign message on all its social media platforms, which has become a
premium engagement and contact point with the bulging youth and young adult population.
Irabor said, “to support the campaign and take the message to the millions of football fans that now see the league on television across the country and the others that watch physically at the stadium in the 20 cities that host Glo League games as well as the millions of others who track the league on the web, the LMC will in the days ahead display messages from the campaign on perimeter boards during live broadcast matches of the Glo Premier League and on the league social media platforms including facebook, twitter and on our website”.
A resurgent interest in the League has seen young Nigerians daily following the fortunes of their favorite clubs and players at match venues and on official and independent social media sites devoted to the league. It has led to heightened debates with passion running high among this segment of the population who are largely young men and women under 30 years of age, the catchment age bracket of the campaign.
