Former international Idah Peterside has faulted the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) over the performance of the national teams in the last few years.
Peterside spoke when he appeared on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, where he described the last four years of Nigerian football as a “disaster”.
“We’ve had four years of disaster – and I wouldn’t say [my comment was] because I tried to contest. One of the reasons I wanted to come in was because we saw those loopholes and wanted to bring change. Thank goodness; we really do hope that change will come this time,” he said on the breakfast show.
His comment came a day after Ibrahim Gusau resigned from his position as the president of the NFF. The resignation followed the Super Eagles and Super Falcons’ failure to qualify for the World Cup, developments which led to calls for Gusau and the leadership of the football body to quit.
Following his resignation, President Bola Tinubu ordered a “comprehensive reform” of Nigerian football, questioning the performance of the country’s football teams.
“The reform must respond to a longstanding need to strengthen governance, administration, stakeholder representation, development pathways, domestic competitions and accountability across Nigerian football,” Tinubu said in a statement by his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga.
When asked about his immediate thoughts on Gusau’s resignation, he said, “Excitement. Absolute excitement. It’s it’s it’s overdue. And again, thanks to the president and the NSC chairman.
“We have longed for change for a very long time. And to see the president take this stand, it’s just beautiful. There’s joy everywhere. You know, when a man leaves a position like this, if he’s done well, people should be complaining and regretting why he’s leaving.”
Peterside, who contested the NFF chairmanship position in 2022, called for a return to grassroots football.
“We need to come back to the grassroots development,” the former Moroka Swallows goalkeeper said while lamenting the performances of the national teams.
“We look at international matches; it’s been woeful. Our senior national team has not been to the World Cup for eight years. Our women just got knocked out. It was almost our birthright [qualifying for the World Cup] with female football,” he said.
“When South Africa first played the Nigerian girls, we beat them 8-0. That’s how good we were at the time things were good with our football. It’s gone very bad. I was watching a programme yesterday of a Senegalese, and he said, ‘We no longer fear Nigeria. They are not the same. That cannot be said of this great country. Our national teams have done badly. You have to be rated by your national team. That’s what it is.”
Meanwhile, the National Sports Commission (NSC) has endorsed a former deputy general secretary of the NFF, Emmanuel Ikpeme, to oversee the NFF secretariat as interim General Secretary.
A former director of media and communications, Ademola Olajire, will serve as interim deputy general secretary. All processes initiated in preparation for the NFF elective congress scheduled for 27 September have also been suspended.
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