Managing Lobi Stars shouldn't be a part-time job------Anjembe

Timothy Anjembe,Lobi Stars Legend and Ex-Nigeria International told Amebo Newspaper during a chat that Football is what I lived for all my life and I consider the club as part of my life because that was where I got my biggest break in the domestic League, as such I can't not fold my arms while the club is steadily vanishing from the NPFL map.

The Former Nigeria International Football Player and particularly a Lobi Stars Legend explained that Lobi Stars  is a professional football club owned by the Benue State Government. Having acquired professional status over 25 years ago and becoming a big brand, the weighty task of managing the club is not, and can not be on a part-time basis.

It will be recalled that Tersoo Luga, who was a civil servant but a passionate goal-getter, got the club promoted to Nigeria Premier League in 1999 with Mike Idoko as the Team Manager. However, two years later, Dominic Iorfa took over from 2002, and that marked the end of part-time management of Lobi Stars.

Since then, the task of managing the club has been full-time, both at board and management level. The trend of constituting boards and managements from the pool of technocrats was not in error as the job demands time, connections in the industry, goodwill, technical know-how, discipline and sense of responsibility to know that the growth and results both on and off the field is the helmsman's responsibility without an option. It's not a job that should be given to one whose hands are already filled with other demanding responsibilities.

It's quite unfortunate that we have found ourselves in an era and situation where Lobi Stars has been reduced from a big brand to a near amateur status that has now been managed part-time. If you take a close look at the present board of Lobi Stars, its composition is 90% part-time, and it is for this reason that the once formidable team is fast disappearing from the NPFL table.

Let's take a moment to look at the profile of members of the present board of Lobi Stars, which doubles as the management of the club.

 *Dr Philip Nongu* : He was appointed Chairman of the Board when he was the Director of Sports, but he is now the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Sports. Apart from being a part-time manager of Lobi Stars, the club was relocated from the Deputy Governor's office to the sports council with the director as the default chairman. Now that he is no longer the Director sports, can we assume that the new Director of Sports will be the default chairman of the club or the club is again moved from the sports council to the ministry as a property of Dr. Nongu, who has shown incapacity to do the job?

 *Dr Iorngulun Akuraan Malu* : Even as the Secretary of the Benue State Football Association, (BSFA), he was appointed the Board/Secretary of Lobi Stars and has been functioning in the two offices as he is still discharging his duties as FA Secretary and Board/Club Secretary. Another case of part-time officer.

 *Sir James Aondoakaa Iorpuu* : He was appointed Board member of the club even as he was the Executive Secretary of SEMA, the most demanding agency of government given the volatility of Benue as the state with the highest number of Internally displaced persons. Another case of part-time.

 *Solomon Andiir* : The upcoming football enthusiast is the General Manager of Flight Transport, a front-line transport company in Benue State, which is in the class of Benue Links. He is the General Manager of Flight Football Club, and he is also the Chairman of Buruku Local Council Football Association and board member Benue State Football Association. His young shoulders are definitely carrying too much load.

 *Francis Ejiga* : Though a retired civil servant who should ordinarily be suitable for the appointment, he is also a member of the Board of Benue State Football Association. Besides the part-time status, being a senior citizen, his age is easily hampering his effectiveness and hindering him from being actively involved in the day to day running of the professional football club.

*Harry Yachi* : He appears to be the only member of the board that was appointed without an existing employment. 

Unfortunately, a board that is clearly part- time and should address its inadequacies by immediately appointing technocrats to manage the affairs of the club is operating without a management team after four months.

Against this background, it is imperative to intimate Governor Hyacinth Alia that the job of managing Lobi Stars shouldn't be part-time, and a board is a policy making organ and not administrative or management. Beyond that, he should understand that managing a professional football club in the class of Lobi Stars is a job for technocrats and not everyone who says he has been in football all his life. The time to save Lobi Stars from the firm grip of mediocres is now.