The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) has pledged to work closely with stakeholders in the sports sector to develop and commercialise sports, especially football, in Nigeria.

Mr Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), NNPC Ltd., made the pledge on Thursday while receiving a delegation from the National Sports Commission (NSC), the International Management Group (IMG) and the Afrosport Network, at the NNPC Towers.

Kyari, while addressing the delegation led by Alhaji Shehu Dikko, Chairman of NSC, said NNPC Ltd. was ready to be part of the initiative to revamp the nation’s football.

Kyari, in a statement by Olufemi Soneye, Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd. expressed delight that the company was identified as a critical partner in the journey of making the country’s football sector work again.

“NNPC will be a prime partner in the journey to bring back value to our football, to reshape it, re-engineer it and bring happiness to our people,” Kyari stated.

He identified football as a tool of immense value that could bring untold benefits to the Nigerian economy and to the NNPC Ltd., as a company.

Speaking earlier, Dikko said football was fundamental to the economies of the best footballing countries in the world.

He added that President Bola Tinubu had already demanded immediate action to revamp the game.

He said that the multiplier effects of football were enormous and could facilitate the revamping of related industries across the value chain.

Dikko noted that IMG, which promotes the English Premier League, was invited as a technical partner to leverage their experience in the sport.

It would be recalled that NNPC Ltd. once had a football club, the NNPC FC, based in Warri, Delta, which played in the Division One of the then Nigeria National League before it was disbanded in 1989. (NAN)