By Laface
The NBA Vs Rivers State Brohaha has been trending for a while now with divergent views being peddled. But I must state emphatically that Rufai Oseni goofed…he goofed big time.
He sounded unreal trying to convince his fellow co-presenters that the N300m in question was indeed a Gift.He obviously did not do his due diligence on Branding Marketing,Events and Sponsorship before taking a position on this issue.
It only shows we are all human.The website of the NBA Categorically lists sponsorship as strategic in different Categorys with premium Sponsorships from N100m and above.
It also states that sponsors will be able to have there brands Creatively associated to the Conference.
Rivers State and Fubaras major objective was to launder the States image and N300m was the value agreed.
First and foremost I will categorically State that the NBA Conference is an Event like any other, the only seaming difference being an Event comprising Legal Professionals.
The fact that it is an event gives me the moral status to lend my professional opinion as a Legendary Events,Brands,Marketing Entertainment, Creative and Project mgmt Guru.
I have over the years staged events of different magnitudes in various States of the Federation spanning 30years and counting States are strategically targeted for Events considering particular variables i.e Funding Capacity,Hotel Facilities ,Available Venues & Capaciity ,Transport ,Road Networks etc
The Consultants /Organizers of the NBA Conference would have creatively put together a well packaged presentation noting the peculiarity of Rivers State at the time with the sole purpose of using the noble and credible platform of the NBA to change the River State narrative while also boosting the economy of the State in the same vein
An Integral part of the presentation would have been the issue of Seed money for hosting the Event as major sponsors once the proposal is discussed and agreed.
The N300m in question is this case is the Seed money for premium sponsorship and not a Gift as the NBA beautifully COINS it now .
How many of such gifts did they receive from other States without direct benefits.
For Rivers State to have paid N300m does not mean that was the total budget presented .
For clarity sake other sponsors would have been approached for the same event with different sponsorship packages.
Ruffy On Fire you no Fire this one wella at all oooooo…once again you goofed big time you vehemently claimed it was a gift even in freetown there is no free Lunch.If you preach accountability in Governance why classify this as a GIFT abi na GREEK GIFT with other benefits not stated in the packaged proposal.
Yes the State of Emergency changed the narrative as the accrueable benefits to be derived from hosting rights went straight out of the window. Technically the NBA can hold on to the fact that the State of Emergency is an act of Governance as such the sponsorship money cannot be refunded.
They can also claim serious logistic expenses was accrued but will still have to refund part of the money.Note that this is dependent on how much time they had to stage the program before the event status changed.The event was scheduled for July/ Aug 2025,they had 4/ 5 months meaning an ample time frame.If the change in venue occured a week to the event they will automatically have a solid point of not returning the money at all.Basically this relates to Cancellations Date or Venue changes as it applies in Events Mgmt.Without going deeply politically ,the major technical stand point for the NBA is that the Sole Administrator is not recognised by Law,he did not pay the hosting rights and as such cannot ask for it to be refunded by Law..Ideally Enugu State should have refunded Rivers States Seed money to gain complete control of hosting the event.
Questions: How much did Enugu State pay for Hosting Rights.Did NBA offer Enugu State hosting rights Free to save there blushes.Was the NBA open with Enugu State on there previous arrangement with Rivers State.Oga Rufai Oseni Sir no right thinking State Government will give out N300m tax payers money without pre conditions. A Committee would have been set up to see that the deliverables were met as agreed between both parties.
In summary the N300m was seed money as part of the sponsorship package for hosting the NBA Conference in Rivers State with economic and social deliverables outlined.
The NBA was strategic in there choice of Rivers State.NBA saw Rivers State as an Oil rich State in major crisis with image laundering challenges.
NBA knew River State had serious financial muscle.
As the Legal saying goes, He who comes to Equity must come with clean hands and in line with morality the NBA as a Noble body should do the needful,they should STAND OUT and STAND TALL as there Conference theme implies.In reality should the NBA be going cap in hand to politicians,I just dey ask ni oooooWAHALA WAHALA LOADING !!!
