The local league, according to Sunday Dare, Minister of Youth and Sports Development, is what will keep Nigerian football alive.

The minister discussed the need of a strong league as a key element of the health of football in any nation during a conversation in Abuja.

Dare underlined the necessity of implementing requirements for club licensing, governance, and player welfare as necessary for growth.

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The sports minister said “We have good laws governing the league but we need to be firm on their enforcement.

“Look at what Samuel Eto’o is doing at Cameroon. We have these laws, we need to enforce them.

” If we must take bank guarantees to ensure players’ payments are secured, then we should do that.

“We know that state governments are the owners of these clubs, but there must be ways out of these” 

“In my speech at the NFF AGM I in 2019, I mentioned that there is no league without a proper calendar, this is needed to gain the trust of investors, consistency is key, taking a cue from the EPL and others.

 Organizations also have budget cycles and this would help them plan”, he added.

Before the 2021–2022 season began, according to Dare, a roundtable with all League stakeholders would be held to discuss solutions to the problems impeding the league’s expansion through engagements and the implementation of difficult decisions.