Owerri — Information Minister Labaran Maku said one of the reasons why the country was unable to secure the broadcast rights of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations tournament was a highly exploitative price tag placed by the sponsors.
He spoke yesterday in Osemotor, Imo State while inspecting a project as part of the National Good Governance Tour.
Maku said it was necessary for Nigeria to call their bluff because they were not willing to bring down the price despite efforts by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON).
"All efforts made by BON through the agent LC2 did not work. From 8 million Euro they came to 6 million then 4.5 million Euro; so you can see that it is not a scientific charge, it is a kind of casino pricing.
"BON decided that this year Nigeria should call the bluff of this agent and maybe next time the Confederation of African Football will be more sensitive when it comes to hiring of agents to vent the broadcasting rights of the African Nations Cup," he said.
The minister said Nigeria will no longer tolerate agents who have turned the country into a cash cow.
He said broadcast stations would have run at a loss because no telecommunications company would have advertised knowing that this year's Nations Cup was sponsored by Orange, also a telecommunications company.
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