*Orders Reforms, Development Pathways, Accountability
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has directed a comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria’s football to address the structural and administrative weaknesses responsible for the country’s recent failures to qualify for major regional, continental and global tournaments.
This, the President said, must strengthen governance, administration, stakeholder representation, player-development pathways, domestic competitions and accountability across the sector, descrying the persistent underperformance of Nigerian football, despite the country’s abundant talent, huge following and substantial public support.
Tinubu lamented that football, the country’s most popular sport and the greatest beneficiary of public support, investment and national attention, has continued to struggle basically due to structural deficits within the system, while other sports recorded meaningful progress, following the reset of the sector under the re-established National Sports Commission (NSC).
Insisting that football can no longer afford to remain constrained by institutional weaknesses, the President reiterated that the reform is to ensure Nigeria’s football administration and development structures begin to match the country’s exceptional talent, passion and resources with stronger institutions and sustained performance.
He directed the chairman of the NSC to work with the secretariat of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and other relevant stakeholders to maintain continuity in essential football administration, while facilitating a broad-based and consultative reform process.
This, he said, should involve wide engagement with stakeholders across the sector, and appropriate consultations with the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the Confederation of African Football (CAF), in a manner that safeguards Nigeria’s obligations within the international football framework.
He called on football stakeholders and Nigerians to support the transition, saying collective efforts were required to build a stronger, more transparent, accountable and successful football system capable of translating the country’s vast football potential into sustained results on the domestic and international stages.
Nigerian football has over the past few years been by failures and controversies, culminating in the mass resignation of the NFF Board members during the week to pave way for the reforms.
President of the ousted Board, Ibrahim Gusau, on Thursday, August 27, while announcing his decision at a world press conference at the NFF headquarters in Abuja, after weeks of reports that he and several members of the Executive Committee had been asked to step down, explained that the decision followed extensive pressure from football stakeholders and consultations with his family, friends and other stakeholders.
According to him: “Because of that, there was so much clamour from here and there, from all stakeholders, everybody.
“And we knew it was important to see that at least nobody is better than us. And we all love our country, and we all love the progress of our country. We made a lot of presentations with family, friends, stakeholders and all.
“As Nigerians, nobody is better than this country; we all love our country and its progress, and as people that have been in football and managing football, we need to look at ourselves and say what next?
“So, we made consultations between family, friends, and stakeholders, and I decided to resign my position. I advised my Board members that anybody who will follow me should resign.
“For me, I want to make it clear, and by the grace of God, we hope to continue making our contribution because of our experience and relationships we have within African football; we will continue to give our contribution for the progress of Nigerian football.”
Gusau said he could not provide details about the individual positions of members of the committee or the state of communications within the federation, confirming that communication between him and some of the federation’s structures had broken down.
“I’m not communicating with the Board; they are not communicating to me. I’m not communicating to the other assembly,” he explained.
The ousted Board had earlier apologised to Tinubu and Nigerians following the repeated failures and setbacks, and constituted a fact-finding committee to investigate the reasons behind the national teams’ recent poor performances.
The leadership crisis was heightened by the investigation of NFF’s management of government funds, with the the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and Department of State Services (DSS) probing the application of the N17billion federal government intervention fund for the Federation.
The exit of the Board members came barely one month to the NFF’s September 27 elective congress in Lafia, Nasarawa State, expected to produce its next leadership.
Gusau secured 39 votes against Peterside Idah’s one at the 78th Elective Congress in Benin City, Edo State, in September 2022, to succeed Amaju Pinnick.
