Anything he touches is gold. That is the story of former Ogun state commissioner of Sports, Bukola Olopade, a man that is best remembered for his many success stories as an administrator and his achievements as a sports marketer.
As commissioner of sports, Bukola Olopade hosted the best National sports festival ever in the history of the games in Nigeria. As Chairman of the wheelchair basketball federation of Nigeria, he singlehandedly raised over 200m naira to help popularize the sport and improve the lives of players and officials.
As Chief executive officer of the Nigeria National League, Bukola Olopade did the unthinkable, as he managed to bring in over 300m naira to the coffers of the league board at a time when the board seriously needed a face-lift.
It is on record that he remains the only football administrator that had the boldness to step down from his position as NNL CEO when he felt things were not going as planned.
That did not stop him from doing what he knows how to do best as the chairman/financier of Nilayo football club of Abeokuta, decided to focus more on what is turning out his biggest passion, the Marathon race.
As at the last count, Nilayo sports management, are the sole marketers for 5 major international marathon races in Nigeria, among which, the Oceanic Bank annual half marathon stands out.
His success story with the marathon events has catapulted him and his company to the very top and today, wherever and whenever Sports business, branding, and marketing is being discussed, the name Bukola Olopade rings the loudest bell.
So, it is not a surprise when the Nigeria football federation under the leadership of Amaju Melvin Pinnick contracted Nilayo sports management limited to help with the marketing of the Super Eagles as well as repositioning the football federation on a pedestal that can make them more attractive for potential business opportunities.
In less than 2-months into this unannounced partnership, Ozogula as Olopade is popularly called by his ardent admirers has moved into the market vigorously and has attracted deals worth over 2billion naira for Nigeria football.
He is not one who likes blowing his trumpet and has not commissioned this overzealous writer to let the cats out of the bag but, in the coming days, the NFF will be smiling to the bank with more mouth-watering deals that will certainly leave tongues wagging.
All through the Super Eagles stay at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos and the trip to Cape Verde, NSML has played a key role and suddenly, the team camp is lively, the players are getting cash incentives, the boys are motivated ever than before to win matches and the sky is no longer looking like the limit to Nigeria football successes going forward.
