The congress of the Nationwide League led by Mohammed Alkali , the Independent Chairman of the League body has approved that the hostilities in the league for the 2016/17 season will commence on May 4. This approval was given at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the League body held on Thursday at the Top Rank Hotel Galaxy in Utako, Abuja.
The congress also applauded the progress made by the NLO board on the partnership with the League Management Company , also for securing partnership/sponsorship deal with the Pipul TV, an indigeneous Pay Tv Company in Nigeria and charged the board to finalise all the details regarding the broadcast rights of the NLO league games for the 2016/17 season.
In order to strengthen the youth policy of the Nationwide League, the congress also approved the recommendation of the NLO board to have a minimum of 10 under 19 players in each in the NLO from the 2017 season.
The congress also approved the proposal by the NLO Board to have all the 20 Premier League Feeder Teams participate in the Nationwide League One this season, in furtherance with the developmental partnership between the Nationwide League One and the League Management Company.
Furthermore, the congress approved that Division Two should be re-arranged into Six Geo- Political zones , whereby the top team in each of the six groups gain promotion automatically to Division One, while the runners – up in the six groups goes into Play-off to determine the additional two that will be promoted to Division One at the end of the season.
The congress also endorsed 28 April as the closing date for registration by all the clubs regarding 2016/17 season.