Rangers International FC of Enugu has secured a three-year kit-sponsorship deal with an investment firm, Afrinvest, to fulfil its management’s promise of running the club professionally.
The deal was signed before the Secretary to Enugu State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia and some stakeholders from the state and beyond.
The club’s Media Officer, Norbert Okolie in a statement, said the event took place at the Base Event Center, Independence Layout, Enugu.
He said the sponsorship, which was the first of its kind in a long time in the history of the club, involved kitting the club with jerseys and rake in N50 million every season.
The Group Managing Director, Afrinvest, Ike Chioke, described the event as grand and one that had been after his heart as he had been following the team since his primary and secondary days.
“Today brings to fruition six years of trying to bring professional partnership and support to a football team.
“Sometime in 2017, I prepared and signed a partnership agreement with Rangers but unfortunately, that deal did not see the light of the day.
“Having achieved that today, I am ecstatic that I got the opportunity to do something with the team. You know, technical capacity is not all that makes a team.
“You can have a group of young men who can play very well but the issue of how you take care of them should be the priority.
Chioke said the medical insurance, traveling plans, and others, if not well handled, would gradually eat into the expected results.
It is our dream to see every football player in Rangers succeed professionally and this will no doubt form part of our corporate social responsibilities,” he said.
Prof. Onyia praised the tremendous positive changes that had happened in the club since the appointment of Mr Amobi Ezeaku as the General Manager (GM) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
According to him, the sponsorship deal goes a long way to show that Rangers was on its way towards rediscovering its nearly lost glory.
Onyia stressed that Rangers was the pride of not only the Igbo race but the entire Nigeria.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Enugu state, Mr Lloyd Ekweremadu, praised Rangers and management officials of Afrinvest for the ground-breaking event.
He charged the players to push hard on the field of play to ensure that followers of the club had something to celebrate as the partnership lasted.
He praised the management for taking the bold step to get the sponsorship, saying that they showed doggedness and creativity.
Ekweremadu commended them and their new partners, Afrinvest and urged the firm not to cease displaying the love for things that concerned the development of Enugu state.”
Ezeaku, the club GM and CEO, went down memory lane to capture the struggles that led to the formation of the team with a lot of victories to celebrate the efforts of the founding members.
He described the sponsorship with Afrinvest as the best thing to have happened to the team in its quest to re-brand, re-organize, re-launch and rediscover the winning touch.
“Afrinvest and Rangers are on a mission to dominate Africa. We would dominate the world but that would be after dominating Africa.
“Rangers and our new shirt sponsor, Afrinvest, are two great institutions with great potential,”Ezeaku said.
Present at the event were Davidson Owumi, the Chairman of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) board, Gbenga Elegbeleye, the club legends Christian Chukwu, Emmanuel Okala and others.
NAN
