TheCable

The high commission of the United Kingdom in Nigeria has pledged to support the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in their drive to take the game to new heights.

Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday when a delegation of the federation led by Amaju Pinnick, paid him a courtesy visit, the acting high commissioner Simon Shercliff expressed delight at the youthfulness of the new NFF leadership and their passion to improve the stock of the Nigeria game globally.

“Let me pledge that the UK high commission will be positively disposed to giving support wherever and whenever necessary, once it is something we can do,” he said.

Earlier, Pinnick had delved into the history of the union between UK and Nigeria.

“Our countries have a history of collaboration. Our Executive Committee has so much passion to do things in a much different way to how things were being done in the past because we are committed to achieving results,” he said.

“To this end, we realize that credibility, transparency, accountability and integrity are key tenets that we must hold onto without fail. We were able to get globally –renowned companies like PricewaterHouseCoopers, Bain and Co and Financial Derivatives to work with us because we want to entrench transparency and accountability in the running of Nigeria football.”

Shehu Dikko, NFF 2nd vice president and chairman of the League Management Company, spoke on the cordial relationship between the Nigeria League and the English Premiership which he said dates back to 2005, when the EPL and the Nigeria Professional League signed a working agreement.

“Since then, we have had great relationship. We have on three occasions invited the EPL chairman to Nigeria to talk at symposia, and other persons from the EPL as well. Also, in 2008, we brought Manchester United and Portsmouth from the UK to Nigeria to play Nigeria League champions Kano Pillars in Abuja,” Dikko said.