By Dayo Johnson, Akure
Plans are underway to sell the Ondo State-owed Sunshine Stars Football Club and Sunshine Queens Football Club.
Both teams are currently playing at the Nigeria Professional Football League and the Nigeria Women Professional Football League, respectively.
The Youths and Sports Development Commissioner, Mr. Bamidele Ologunloluwa, said this during a personality interview on Crest FM, Akure, the state capital.
Ologunloluwa said the state-owned football teams were open for sale or privatisation to the right investors by the end of the ongoing 2022/2023 league season.
According to him, the clubs needed to be privatised for proper administration, a situation which may lead to the government handing off the clubs completely or partner with investors.
The commissioner said: “If a bigger organisation showed interest in buying the club, it would be sold immediately.
“The government is saying we need the club privatised, that way the government may be funding the club, but it’s not going to be one 100%. Then the private organisations can come in and partner with the club.
“If a club like Manchester United for example says there is a club in Ondo State called Sunshine Stars and we want to have them as our feeder’s team, are you saying we are not going to sell? We will sell immediately.
“Not because we didn’t like Sunshine Stars, because it is even good for us as a state, it is good for the boys, for sports development, because the government has no business in business.”
Ologunloluwa declared that the club would be sold to any company or individual with a good track record.
He, however, said that no one had shown interest currently and that the club was not in the market for now in order not to distract it from the ongoing NPFL.
“We just registered a company now; Ondo Sports Limited, Sunshine Stars FC, Sunshine Queens, Risings Stars put together.
“At the end of the season, we are going into full-fledged privatisation. It is better for us as a state, but some people don’t understand this. Once it happens, they will thank Mr. Governor.
The commissioner declared that “people need to understand that if the right company takes over Sunshine Stars, there will be more jobs, nothing like losing a job.
“It has to be in the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding), they must have their offices in the three senatorial districts, they must have their ministry in the districts to harvest legs, ” he submitted.
Source: Vanguard