BY ANDREW EKEJIUBA
The Nigeria Football Fund (TNFF) is fast becoming a household name in Nigeria’s sports ecosystem but many stakeholders in the sports industry of Africa’s most populous black nation are yet to come to grasp its essence.
A visit to major stadia in the country where Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) matches are played weekly, the acronym TNFF is visibly displayed on the pitch panels, posters, billboards, flyers, books, newspapers and magazines to mention but a few, yet many are at sea when it comes to appreciating this great tool that has made its giant entry into our sporting history.
From the start of the 2022/2023 NPFL season to date, a lot has been highlighted by both local and foreign media organizations about TNFF and its benefits to our country’s football development.
In the social media space, the same story abounds, as the name TNFF is synonymous with Nigerian football. To say the least, TNFF is fast garnering lots of attention it deserves in the social and financial sectors, while smart Nigerians who are aware of its benefits are seriously investing and hoping to start cashing out soon from this new ‘green oil’.
A peep into history shows that TNFF is the first of its kind in Africa and globally, thanks to the financial experts from GTI Assets Management and Trust Limited led by its Group Managing Director, Abubakar Lawal.
In the words of Lawal, “TNFF is a product of 13 years of painstaking effort and research as individuals and institutions are now positioned to reap from this specialized sports asset.”
From the foregoing, TNFF is the much-needed booster that currently drives, lubricates, facilitates and helps in the restructuring of football and sports in the country.
In a jiffy, TNFF came when a new lease of life was needed when it was evident that the elite football league was almost at its comatose stage in Nigeria.
In summary, TNFF is a specialized fund that will help build and deliver a “Football Economy”, reposition Sports as a national asset contributing to Nigeria’s GDP and transform football/sports from socio-political tools to profitable business enterprises in the country. It is also a collective investment scheme that seeks to provide sustainable solutions to the challenges hindering the growth and advancement of football and other sports in Nigeria with a primary focus on creating value for all stakeholders.
From the financial experts in GTI, TNFF is an open-ended Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-Registered Unit Trust (“Fund”) that allows ease of entry and exit by investors. Institutions and individuals are therefore encouraged to invest in this sports asset and reap bountiful returns for their investment.
However, for further clarification, the Football Economy consists of football and other sporting activities measurable in statistical terms as a significant component of the nation’s Gross Domestic Products. It includes Football, Basketball, Boxing, Tennis, Athletics, Golf and Polo to mention but a few.
On the benefits of TNFF, GTI Asset Management and Trust Limited has explained to investors the main benefits of the Fund.
According to the company, it is an open-ended Securities and Exchange Commission-Registered Unit Trust/Mutual Fund with an initial public offering to raise N5billion through the issuance of 5,000,000,000 units at N1.00 per Unit.
It is a fund launched by GTI Asset Management and Trust Limited on Tuesday, March 22, 2022,to provide sustainable solutions to the challenges hindering the growth and advancement of football in Nigeria by focusing on sports development. Presently, TNFF is the catalyst energizing the transformation of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL).
In the past, the organisation of NPFL had so many challenges bedeviling it and top- most among them is the issue of poor funding which the Fund is going to breathe in a new lease of life into it going forward. For the records, TNFF also invests in high-quality investment-grade instruments involving equities of quoted companies, money market or fixed-income instruments, and strategic investment in the football/sports sector via securitized lending investments in identified short to medium-term “Football Projects.”
The Fund also aims to transform football clubs from socio-political tools to profitable business enterprises and by extension, a national asset contributing to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
As noted earlier, TNFF will promote investment culture among participants in the sports industry with an opportunity to earn returns from investment-grade instruments involving equities of quoted companies, sovereign and corporate short/long-term debt obligations and securitized lending investments in identified short to medium-term “Football Projects.”
The multiplier effects of building a “Football Economy” is extremely huge, as an improved football sector will drive a cycle of growth (value-chain effects) across several other sectors like Tourism, Broadcasting, Technology, Gaming, Media, Hospitality, Transportation, Merchandising etc.
The result of these will lead to increased economic activities, increase in employment opportunities, rise in disposable income, significant contribution to GDP and a general increase in demand for the products, goods and services produced by Nigerian corporate/manufacturing companies.
The Fund which is currently managed by GTI Asset Management and Trust Limited has the following under-listed deliverables:
It will help the government to use football to manage social vices, especially among the teaming idle youths. Most of these youths would be kept busy through sporting activities and will not fancy indulging themselves in criminal activities if left unchecked.
Therefore, an improved football economy enhances national development as the beautiful game in turn becomes an easy tool or a veritable source of revenue for government finances.
Another deliverable is that TNFF will help to enhance national saving culture and will stimulate the financial inclusion agenda of the federal government.
Another good benefit of TNFF is that it deepens the creative economy of Nigeria, produces and distributes cultural goods with positive economic impact. The positive spillover effect on the tourism sector development can be heartwarming because of its positive impact on hotel occupancy rates.
Aside from enhanced foreign exchange earnings, which TNFF will bring to the table through foreign television broadcasting rights, infrastructural development; the fund has demonstrated the capacity to convert the interests of mammoth Nigerian fans into commercial success and sustainable growth.
From the foregoing, the benefits of TNFF are much and for a country like Nigeria that wants to diversify its economy, TNFF is a ready mutual fund that will provide the magic wand to add up to the GDP of Africa’s most populous black nation.
