Nigeria's League Management Company (LMC) signed a partnership Memorandum of Understanding with NASD Securities this week in a move that could provide the final ingredient required to catalyse the domestic competition.
LMC signed the MOU with NASD, which provides secondary market trading of all securities of unquoted public companies, and which will provide a transparent corporate governance structure for a league largely owned and financed by state governments.
All but three of Nigeria's 20-team Premier League clubs are owned and financed by state governments, which means they are completely dependent on the funding whims of the governor.
In this structure, Ocean Boys rose from the lower division, and, helped by the massive generosity of the state governor at the time, won the Premier League in their first try ahead of more traditional clubs, but promptly sunk back to the lower division and disappeared with nary a trace a few years later.
Enyimba's multiple league titles and back-to-back CAF Champions League successes were helped in large part by the single-minded determination of then-governor Orji Uzor Kalu. After he served out his two terms, Enyimba were left floundering.
As a result, one of the LMC's biggest challenge in their quest to improve the domestic competition was to convince the state governments to let go of the clubs and allow private investment. Though it was not to so simple.
"We spoke to almost all the state governors," LMC chairman Shehu Dikko told ESPN FC. "Because of the current economic situation of the country, many of them were actually quite willing to let go.
"But their concern was that the clubs might fail if the government did hand off the clubs, and that could be political suicide for the governor concerned as the people are very attached to these clubs as symbols of their individual states and will not forget the man who killed their club."
To prevent that failing, a transparent corporate governance structure was required, which would see the clubs run in a way that builds sustainable investor confidence, guarantees inclusion of their respective communities as shareholders, and generate steady income streams.
That's where NASD comes in. The company provides a trading platform that brings investors, issuing houses, financial advisers and stockbrokers together.
"We share the belief that Nigerian football clubs can harness the power of the capital market and the passion of sports-loving Nigerians to develop reliable funding models," Bola Ajomale, NASD CEO said.
To do this, clubs would have to sign up to, and meet the stringent corporate governance and financial reporting guidelines before they will even qualify to be listed or attract public funding.
For clubs who are used to secrecy as a way of life, this would constitute a major departure from the way they conduct their business, but Dikko says the LMC, which was in a similar boat in previous years, is already leading the way.
"Over the last three years, our audited financial reports have been available on our website, and we expect that clubs will follow suit as a first step in this process."
Push-back is expected from club officials who would rather stay with the status quo, but Godwin Enakhena, chairman of MFM FC, says more than a few clubs are already prepared to take the plunge.
"At MFM FC, we have always been committed to transparency and open to any structure that helps us run a better club. So we will be happy to do this," he said.
Sporting success might not necessarily follow from an organised management structure, but it should guarantee a steady investment income and long-term stability which will eliminate the current troubles of financial strangulation currently afflicting the domestic competition.
More talented players would be encouraged to stay at home, and players who have spent time in Europe will feel more secure coming back to see out the twilight of their careers.
The deal comes just over a week after Nigeria became the first African country to implement FIFA's Domestic Transfer Matching System, and one of the earliest to sign up for FIFA and CAF Club Licensing regulations.