The Nigeria Football Federation national governing body has complained to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) continental governing body about the fees being demanded for rights to the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament.
The tournament kicked off last Saturday with the games being unavailable on free-to-air television in Nigeria after talks broke down between the LC2-Afnex agency, which is selling the rights in the territory on behalf of the Sportfive agency, and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) umbrella organisation.
“I want to say that as much as they [the confederation] want to raise the revenue profile of the institution of CAF for the development of football in member nations, they also must be aware that the price they put for some of the rights are so high,” the federation’s general secretary, Musa Amadu, said, referring to CAF’s centralisation of rights for the tournament.
“It is difficult,” he added. “If TV stations in a country like Nigeria are finding it difficult to pay such prices, it goes a long way to prove that their demand is high; this is because Nigeria is a very rich economy in the African continent. If our stations are unable to pay, then there is a problem and they must look at it and bring down this process for people to watch these matches.”
According to the Guardian newspaper in Nigeria, LC2-Afnex demanded €6 million ($8 million) for the rights to the 2013 tournament.