Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
The General Manager and Chief Executive Officer (GM/CEO) of Rangers International Football Club, Amobi Ezeaku, has said that the governance model in place in Enugu Rangers has become the envy of clubs in Nigeria and Africa at large.
Rangers currently sit atop of the Nigeria Premier League table thanks to the club’s consistent impressive performance in the league this season.
Ezeaku, who was delivering a keynote at the Ikengaonline May Townhall meeting on Thursday, said the club has risen to become a global brand with the eyes of scouts from continental and European clubs on its players.
He described the swift rise of the club in the domestic and international scene as a result of innovative management models alongside other reinvented strategies that fetched the club glories in the past.
He recalled that the club was formed after the Nigerian Civil War in 1970 as part of the reintegration process of the Igbos, adding that the club has risen to become the love of the people in not only the region but the country at large.
“Rangers is an offshoot of the civil war formed as part of the reintegration process.
“If we play in any state of the South-East, we have more fans than even the home team; be it Heartland in Owerri or Enyimba in Aba, we witness a massive support base.
“In Kano, there is a man popularly known as Mustapha Rangers. In Maiduguri, a woman gave birth and the father named the child Rangers. So, Rangers have gone beyond the South-East. It is now known all over the world,” Ezeaku said.
The managing director said the new club strategies with its successes are beginning to attract fans in droves back to the club, and even hinted that the clubs around the world are already queuing up to snap up players some of whom he said have been called up to represent the national team.
“At present Rangers have offers from clubs but we have told them to wait till the league is over. Two of our players have been invited to the Super Eagles. They have been playing and now in a more organised setting.”
He said that the club presently under his watch since August 2023 has taken measures to make it self-sustaining through private sector partnerships. He also said the state government is doing its best to reposition the club by embarking on infrastructural upgrades of the facilities.
“We have looked at repositioning the brand. Rangers can run on their own and sustain themselves. Today, we have the Rangers Innovation Hub. We want to internationalise the sources of our revenue in the club and we are not paying a blind eye to our financial management and sustainability and that is why we are digitalising all the club’s activities and diversifying our sources of revenue.
“Before I returned from Switzerland last season, the first few games we played were in Awka township stadium, Anambra. But the present government is not joking with the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu.
“The governor has insisted that a synthetic turf must be put in place for us to play and on 28 December last year, we played our first game on the turf after over two years. Again, the VIP section is now fully air-conditioned with the dressing rooms now undergoing rehabilitation,” Ezeaku said.
