The Group Managing Director of Afrinvest West Africa Limited, Ike Chioke, has urged the Nigeria Premier Football League to embrace greater transparency and professionalism to position itself among the world’s leading football leagues.
Chioke, who attended Sunday’s title-deciding clash at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Onikan, Lagos, where Enugu Rangers defeated Ikorodu City to secure the 2025/26 NPFL crown, expressed concerns over the quality of officiating despite celebrating Rangers’ success.
The Afrinvest boss, whose company sponsors Enugu Rangers, stated that the league possesses the potential to attract substantial corporate investment if administrators create an environment that appeals to neutral football supporters and ensures fairness in competition.
He said, “You could see this game this evening. Our boys played their hearts out, but you could see that the refereeing wasn’t totally balanced. We need to bring it to the standards of international football.
“It is that ability to bring transparency and discipline to the game that will allow more corporate sponsorship to come in. Afrinvest is a small company relative to all the large blue-chip companies that exist today.
“I mean, if you look at the Nigerian exchange with the valuation of over N150 trillion today, there are many companies whose names should be on many teams; we have over 20 teams in NPFL.”
Chioke added that leading Nigerian conglomerates and financial institutions should become more actively involved in football sponsorship ahead of the next campaign.
“Going into the next season, you know, the Dangotes of this world, the banks and the cement companies should really be sponsoring football in Nigeria,” he said.
He further described football as a viable tool for addressing youth unemployment and stimulating economic opportunities across multiple sectors.
“For a country with the kind of youth unemployment we have… more than 70 per cent of our population are under age 25… football can be a mechanism to take people out of poverty, to create employment in merchandising, in football management, in training, in organisation and in the media, among others.
“So that’s why I hope the NPFL will take that charge and allow more transparency and more discipline in the way they do things.”
Chioke also expressed optimism about a deeper collaboration between Afrinvest and the NPFL in the future, noting that such a partnership could further enhance the development of the domestic game.
Reflecting on Enugu Rangers’ league triumph, he congratulated the club for securing a ninth Nigerian league title and praised the team’s impressive campaign.
He said: “We at Afrinvest are particularly proud to be associated with Rangers, and I’ve seen them carry the cup twice in three years.
“That says a lot for when finance meets football at its point of need and brings that discipline, that governance, that institutional capacity to support the team and elevate these young men to a platform where they can begin to see themselves on the global stage and go beyond Nigerian football.”
Chioke also highlighted the inclusion of two Rangers players in the national team squad preparing for the Unity Cup in London as evidence of the club’s progress and quality.
He said, “That shows you the quality of what we have brought to Rangers. We are very proud of what the boys have achieved, and we are super excited that this partnership will continue and take them to higher grounds.”
