Despite Dearth Of Sponsors, Nigeria Pitch Awards Wax Stronger At 10

Despite the fact that the business environment in the country has not been conducive, organisers of the Nigeria Pitch Awards remain resolute, determined and focused on the goal and objective of what they are doing. They have weathered the storm and today, it is celebration galore as the Nigeria Pitch Awards clocks 10 years.

Matchmakers Consult International, which on Tuesday 14 November 2023 unveiled a new name, Lender Consult International, can best be described as a patriotic private company which believes in the Nigeria Project. Consistently, Shina Phillips and his team have never looked back since 2013 when they hosted the crème de la creme of Nigerian football to the first edition of Nigeria Pitch Awards and since then it has been a success story.

Phillips revealed on Tuesday during a media conference for the 10th award ceremony of the Nigeria Pitch Awards at Lagos Travel Inn in Ikeja that “we are delighted that the Nigeria Pitch Awards has come to stay and is now an integral part of our annual football calendar. This has come at enormous cost and sacrifice. Even in the face of a dearth of sponsors, we have remained consistent and steadfast in celebrating football heroes in Nigeria.

The strength of any award is the system put in place to produce the winners. I must emphasize that we guard the process that leads to the nominations. We did so much to protect the integrity of the awards, as we have vowed never to compromise the standard of the awards and the nominations.

“At inception, our determination was to create an award platform built on integrity, credibility and transparency. To achieve this, we completely removed ourselves as organisers from the award decision process, giving organisers zero votes in the entire voting process. The decisions were left entirely to sports editors and journalists across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.”

Phillips told his guests at the press conference that “it is to your credit that in that last 10 years, after 480 nominations and 160 winners, there has been no controversial award decision. The Nigeria Pitch Awards owe this feat to you, our voters and our independent vote collating body, SIAO Partners.

Our pledge remains the same. In the years to come, the Nigeria Pitch Awards will continue to assemble guests and fans to celebrate footballers, officials, administrators, corporate bodies, states and journalists who work tirelessly and determinedly to bring glory to our fatherland and uplift the standard of football in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Lender Consult International is planning big for the 10th edition of the Nigeria Pitch Awards. According to Phillips, “Before the award ceremony, there will be a symposium which will aim to address the future of football in Nigeria. We will release details as preparations progress.

“However, voting is scheduled to begin on 4th December 2023 and end on 12th February 2024. The 10th Award Ceremony is expected to be held in March 2024 during the international match window,” Phillips said.