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‘NCF wants to build sustainable partnerships, relationships’

By Christian Okpara
03 February 2022   |   4:09 am
His enthusiasm is infectious. Since Uyi Akpata took over as president of Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), he has gone about the job as if nothing else matters. And, in fact, with Akpata, nothing compares to cricket.

NCF President, Uyi Akpata (right), during a recent demonstration game in Lagos

His enthusiasm is infectious. Since Uyi Akpata took over as president of Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), he has gone about the job as if nothing else matters. And, in fact, with Akpata, nothing compares to cricket.

The former NCF vice president, who is also the chairman of Edo Cricket Association, is always seeking engagements, alliances that will bring sustainable development to the game he has been part of since his secondary school days at Federal Government College, Warri.

As part of its growth initiatives, the NCF, under Akpata, has started a programme that will drive infrastructural development across the nation and also set up an administrative architecture that will lead to seamless execution of the Federation’s projects.

Recently in Lagos, the NCF commissioned the rebranded turf of the Tafawa Balewa Square Oval, which according to Akpata, has increased the number of top flight cricket grounds in the country to seven in just one year.

Akpata said: “Facility upgrade scores very high on our agenda and the TBS is very critical in that sphere as it is Nigeria’s frontline facility.”

He added that the latest development has put Lagos on the map with two top facilities capable of hosting world class events. The other facility is at the University of Lagos in Akoka.

Reiterating his desire to bring all stakeholders in on the new path to growth, Akpata said he is working to establish sustainable relationships and partnerships.

“We want all our partners in this project because without that support, we cannot achieve our objective.

“Cricket is a big tool for social engineering. For instance, when we started playing cricket at Edo Boys, Benin, about six years ago, the principal said truancy dropped to zero. Before we came, students were going to bushes to do foolish things, but now they come to the cricket ground to either play or watch the game.

“In Benin today, there are almost 500 students watching the league going on now on Saturdays. We want to improve our ranking, which everybody wants to see and it has to be on sustainable basis.”

The NCF drive for sustainable relationships, he said, include getting sponsors, parents and other stakeholders to join the developmental programmes, including getting players from the grassroots and equipping them to become elite stars.

This involves discovering talented youths from schools, monitoring them through the age grade levels before they move to the senior national team.

“I can tell you hand in chest that every person that represents us at the U-19 World Cup is under-19. We track our players and so nobody can just come from nowhere to gate-crash into the system.

“Before you get to the Youth Games, we must have tracked you from your school certificates to the PWC U-17 championship. We capture them with their parents and their schools.”

Akpata’s dream is to make cricket the second sport of choice for Nigerians. This can only happen, he said, if the game were structured in such a way that fans would troop out to watch the sport at every level.

“We want to use Edo as a template for growth. The Edo template was deliberate because its success will pull sponsors to the game.

“Already, Lagos wants to replicate the women league that we started in Edo, just as the NCF wants to partner the CCC League in Lagos and spread it across the country.

“There is no reason the north cannot have their own League. The South East is also planning its own competition. It is a gradual process, which requires every stakeholder’s input to succeed.”

On development of modern facilities, Akpata said the NCF cannot promise to build grounds and other facilities for states and clubs, “but we will support anybody that wants to do that.

“We are happy that it is catching on. We are overwhelmed by developmental initiatives from stakeholders across the country.” He revealed that the federation is planning a programme that will entice talented youths to cricket and build them up to become professionals.

“We are planning to put our elite players on salary, make them professionals as the stepping stone.

“We have a governance structure that ensures we are objective in declaring the number of people we are training. The numbers must be verifiable to help us grow the sport properly. What I have done is to bring everybody with good intentions to come and help develop the game.”

One of the major problems sports in Nigeria faces is paucity of funds. Apart from football, many of the other games struggle to meet their developmental needs because of poor funding.

While football are availed of many corporate sponsors due to its mass appeal, the less popular sports like cricket are made to scratch for funds to meet their needs.

It is, therefore, not surprising that funding is another area Akpata wants to change the narrative. The former international believes that sponsors will throng to cricket if they see a clear path to progress. He adds that his team has been consulting with prospective partners to ensure that cricket rises to such a stage that investors will leverage on the sport to reach wide audiences.

“Everybody knows what the International Cricket Council (ICC) gives us as subvention. It is less than 25 per cent of our expenditure. As a matter of fact, we don’t rely on the ICC grant in our planning,” he said, adding, “We are talking to a few people, but they need to see that the game is properly run.

“We have a strong competitions and sponsorship committee that has started meeting with sponsors. The beauty in the whole thing is that we have an open administration that is ready to answer any sponsor’s question.

“Most of the companies in Nigeria support cricket elsewhere, but they are not doing so in Nigeria. We are working hard to ensure they see us as attractive as those other countries.”

Apart from building the game through the grassroots, Akpata said the NCF is also trying to get the national teams in top condition for international competitions through bilateral competitions in and outside the country.

“We have a bilateral women championship, which started with the last board. This year, six to eight countries will come to play in the championship for a whole week. So, we need sponsors buy-in to make it successful. I am excited by the future of the game.

“In Zamfara, we have the state’s first lady as our main supporter and she is involved in the cricket programme at the IDPs.”

Akpata explained that the NCF is paying attention to women cricket because it has the potential to drive the sport’s growth, adding, “It is easier for us to have more women players in the next five years than men. Women cricket in Nigeria is the future of the game.”

He also disclosed that the federation wants to build on the recent successes of the youth teams, adding that NCF believes that the growth in the youth level should rob off on the senior team.

“Some of the boys that went to Rwanda for the U-17 World Cup held the ball for the first time five years ago. We lost to inexperience because we could have beaten Uganda that eventually won the cup.

“Our average age in Rwanda was about six or seven lower than the other teams. While we didn’t do too well was that we didn’t play any cricket during the COVID lock down. Now, some players from other countries want to come to Nigeria to play in our league. That will help develop the game here.”

The NCF’s projection, according to Akpata, is that the recent programme introduced by national team coach, Asanka Gurusinha, will add a new impetus to the development of the sport, as well as create jobs for workers in the game.

“In Edo State, there are over 50 people employed by the game, including the groundsmen. That is the most important job because investment on the ground is over N25 million.

“We need at least five groundsmen dedicated to maintaining each pitch. We have pockets of all these things everywhere. There is an IDP camp in Edo State that will present a team in the Edo secondary school league. We did a Christmas competition there and we had more than 500 boys in attendance because they all wanted to play and get the tee-shirts and packs given to players.

“I have seen the template by the head coach, which details regular training for both the elite and grassroots teams. He is the head coach and head of the high performance centre. As a coach and also an administrator, he knows all we need and how to go about getting them. There is a coaching template for everybody’s use that he developed.

“Everywhere he goes, all the coaches in that area come to train with him. He has ready sessions every Monday mornings with coaches, which helps in our certification of the technical officials.”

Quote
Cricket is a big tool for social engineering. For instance, when we started playing cricket at Edo Boys, Benin, about six years ago, the principal said truancy dropped to zero. Before we came, students were going to bushes to do foolish things, but now they come to the cricket ground to either play or watch the game.

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