By Jacob Ajom
In what looked like a volcano, the Nigerian football scene was taken by storm with a torrent of resignations that swept away the Ibrahim Gusau-led board of the Nigeria Football Federation.
The General Secretary Alhaji Mohammed Sanusi was not spared either, as he too left his office. Furthermore, Boards and Chief Executives of all the domestic leagues, the NPFL, NNL, NWFL and others were also swept away by the hurricane.
There have been a lot of reactions by prominent stakeholders in Nigerian football. Former Nigerian international and 1980 AFCON winner, Adokiye Amiesimaka has said it is not yet uhuru for Nigerian football, despite the quitting of the former board.
“The problem with Nigerian football is beyond change of guard,” Adokiye said, asking, “if Gusau leaves, what next?”
He contended that unless there are fundamental changes in the governance structure and a new orientation for football administrators in the country, there won’t be any headway to progress. “If we don’t get the fundamentals right, we will get everything else wrong,” he insisted.
“The structure itself, the fundamentals have to be well taken care of. Look at the requirements of FIFA. We are all affiliated to FIFA. What does FIFA expect? Take a look at the NFA Act, what does the NFA Act say? Is it complying with the requirements of FIFA? Is it in line with FIFA’s expectations? If it is, what are we doing about it? Are we complying?
For instance, if you read the NFA Act, the very first sentence reads that ‘the NFA is a private organisation,’ which I know is a lie. We are telling lies that the NFA is a private organisation, when it is not? In fact, it’s the only sports association that’s affiliated to the sports ministry, the only one. And why is it the only one? Because there is money in football. You see, why is it the only one? Football is where there are lots of competitions that attract global interest. So that is where everybody is struggling to go to become NFA chairman. That’s just it.
He recommended a comprehensive restructuring of the football house and insisted that FIFA does not frown at government’s involvement in the internal set up of the administrative structure of its football.
‘Government can be actively involved as a stakeholder and can be a participant from within the structure. What FIFA does not permit is government being in the background and issuing orders to the NFA.
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