By Tunde Liadi
The owner of Ikukuoma FC, High Chief Summers Nwokie has revealed plans to make the club more modern in approach and among the foremost in Imo State and even beyond.
Nwokie who disclosed how he would go about it with journalists at his country home in Ezeagbogu, Ezinihitte Mbaise said the club’s qualification of the Mbaise Blues to the Nigeria Nationwide League meant they must work harder to achieve success on other fronts.
The newly formed Ikukuoma FC of Imo picked a ticket to compete in the Nigeria Nationwide League One (NLO 1) next season after they defeated ambitious Anambra side, Ozalla Football Academy 1-0 on July 21 at the Awka City Stadium.
A 48th minute strike by Samuel Chiedozie, his third of the season from five games, turned out to be all the team needed to secure the sole ticket.
Nwokie, an international businessman, thanked the players, coaching staff and entire team for putting all hands on deck to secure the promotion, adding that the team will concentrate on securing promotion from the NLO 1 to the NNL next season.
“It is a thing of great joy that the team is being promoted to the NLO 1, we dedicate this victory to God and we thank everyone in the club for making this dream a reality,” High Chief Nwokie stated.
“But we will not stop here, we will continue to provide logistics and other forms of support to ensure that our next target, which is promotion to the NNL is achieved “
“The team made us proud in Awka. The reward of a job well done is another one. We must work harder than we have done because there is a bigger task in front.
“We are thankful to the players, management and to the media and Nigeria as whole.
“We got the team ready and they went to Awka to implement what we taught them. We ensure we selected the best crop of players and it was why they went unbeaten in Awka.”
Nwokie stressed that Ikukuoma FC has not back track on the promise made at the conception of the club to make it a global brand that will serve as transformation of talents both for clubs in Nigeria and abroad.
“There is beautiful market in Nigeria. The only problem we are having is that we do not know how to cultivate our own. We have the problem in Nigeria which I call monkey mentality. When monkey wants to eat, it will go and get a ripe banana but it doesn’t have the patience to go and grow the banana by itself. If it grows the banana by itself, it will have enough and will not need to go and fight for bananas.
“Every body wants to run abroad in search of the golden fleece because of better lives but if they can have patience things could get better here too.”
Even though the club is seeking for collaborations with serious minded individuals and corporate companies, Nwokie disclosed that they are patient about it and would be glad to continue financing the club.
He mentioned some of the notable changes he and the club’s management are striving to bring about a renewed Ikukuoma FC with the acquisition of the 22 plots of land which would be used to build a standard stadium and other state of the art facilities.
“We came into this sport because of the love of the game and have spent quite a fortune to realize our objective. But this is just a token to what we are going to spend when we build our stadium. We are building something that is very hard to surpass. It was a struggle but we have finally acquired the 22 plots of land for the building of our own stadium.
“We have two of our players who are about to go to Europe. One had already left before now. There are a lot scammers in football. You will see people promising heaven but when they are given opportunity, they fall by the way side.”
To ensure that players at Ikukuoma FC are well lettered and could combine education with their footballing career, Nwokie hinted that plans are at advance stages to have a secondary school for the players. He also said he would ensure there are collaborations with some institutions of higher learning to ensure products of the secondary school secure admissions more seamlessly.
He also informed of his plans to expand the club by establishing a football academy to enable players combine regular basic education with football and be able to attain their full potential.
“We want to try to have high school or Secondary school as it is called here. We want to start with SS1 through 3 and we are going to have collaborations with some universities so that players who are attending our secondary school can get to go there for degrees of their choice,” Nwokie told dasportstainment247.com.
“This will stop excuses from some parents who said their children must go to school first before anything called football.
“We want to make everything accessible for our players so that their parents won’t have any reason to hinder them from pursuing football as a career. We will give exceptional players scholarships for them to fully concentrate while those that couldn’t make it in football will be consoled with having their certificate as a graduate.”
Nwokie also revealed other future plans for Ikukuoma FC to have their identity and able to tell their own stories while also asserting that it is also among his plans to have a competition named after him that will be competed for at his country home at the completion of the club’s new stadium.
“In the future we are hoping to have Ikukuoma Cup that will be nationwide and we are going to play it in Imo State. By that time we would have completed.
“We are also proposing to have a television station that won’t compete with Arise Tv or Channels TV but with Aljazeerah, CNN or Fox Tv. I want to do that because it is good we tell our stories than leaving it in the hands of our enemies to do it for us.
“We are open to collaborations and sponsorships. If we are able to get serious minded individuals and corporate companies, we will be ready. But if they don’t come, we will continue with what we are doing. We know it will be easier to have people identify with us when we are succeeding.”
The High Chief also mentioned his target to ensure the second edition of the Ikukuoma Secondary Schools competition holds again this year but with a bigger platform.
“We are still going to do the Ikukuoma Secondary Schools Football Competition this year also. This term around, it will hold among Secondary Schools in Imo State and not just within Owerri. We are going to take up that challenge immediately we are done with our NLO playoff in August. It may probably start in September,” he noted.
Speaking, the Club’s Coordinator, Mr Chuks Dike, thanked Nwokie for his material, logistics and other forms of support and called on journalists to partner with and market the club.
“ We are grateful to our President and we promise not to disappoint. We have a destination and we’ll get there together “, Dike said.
Also, the Director-General, Ikukuoma Sports Development Foundation, Comrade Julius Nnaji , said the decision to establish a football academy was borne out of a sincere desire to give young football talents the opportunity to attain a better place in the world.
He therefore urged the players not to relent in pursuing their dreams.
Nnaji also reminded the the gathering that the sole financial of Ikukuoma Sports Development Foundation, High Chief Summers Nwokie would be offered with a chieftaincy title by the Mbaise clan on August 15th and that all should come and support the philanthropist on the said day.
