After reading the outcome of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) delegation’s visit to Malam Shehu Dikko’s office last week, I must admit that I felt uneasy or rather unsatisfied with his response.
According to reports, the visit was led by NFF President Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, who was accompanied by almost every member of his committee.
Furthermore, I was disappointed with Shehu Dikko because, after they gave an explanation of why they had come to his office, he failed to hit the nail on the head by informing them what was really expected of them.
Because I believed he would have the courage and audacity to tell them the truth about what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all Nigerians want from them.
According to reports, the NFF chairman and his committee were at the NSC to update the chairman on their plans for the NFF-FIFA Players Hotel and training grounds groundbreaking ceremony, which is set for Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja.
They also discuss, among other things, the preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Rwanda in Kigali, which took place last Friday, and Zimbabwe in Uyo, which is scheduled for Tuesday, March 25, 2025.
However, Dikko’s answer to the NFF’s comments apparently merely restated how important a supportive atmosphere is to the development of football in the country.
In addition to the commission’s mandate, which was given by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, he underlined the significance of football to the sports economy.
“If football is succeeding, all other sports will key in,” Malam Shehu Dikko further added,
I must admit that what the two heads had to say during the meeting astonished and disappointed me. NFF chairman Ibrahim Gusau was talking about “the ongoing reforms in his sector.”
However, could he please tell me which reforms he was referring to, as well as where and when they started?
This is due to the fact that I have never seen any reform or improvements anywhere, especially in football, which has the largest fan base and attendance in the country. It is a hoax, in my opinion, and there are no reforms or improvements in place.
Most of us believe that the only change that is now required is the extension of the NFF’s elective congress, which would allow for more significant and respectable stakeholders in the nation’s football administration.
We demand a change that will allow the Okochas, Odegbamis, Babangidas, Nwonkos, the chairman of every Premier League club, and several other real stakeholders to dictate how our football is run.
This is because I see the NFF’s current leadership as the composition of imposters who are there only to exploit the system rather than contribute to its advancement.
I’m curious how someone who doesn’t play football professionally or has a club can effectively manage the NFF.
Since they are neither former internationals nor owners of a state league team, let alone a premier or NNL club, hence, they are not the real game’s stakeholders and can never contribute positively.
For this reason, I completely agreed with the idea that football is in ruins and chaos in this country, which explains why it isn’t growing or spreading in the most populated country in Africa.
The flagrant injustice that a few State Football Association chairmen who monopolized the game in their states are perpetrating against numerous other football community stakeholders at the national level must be addressed to pave way for deserving stakeholders for the good of the game.
For this reason, I thought the NSC chairman would convey the president’s message of complete change in the NFF. He ought to have informed them immediately that no one is pleased with their leadership style.
I also thought Dikko would have the guts to notify the NFF that Senator John Owan Enoh, the former minister of sports development, had instructed them to broaden their elective congress to include more and other pertinent stakeholders for peace to reign in the federation.
I recalled that was the directives given by the former minister in his office during a strategic discussion with the executive board of the Nigerian Football Federation last year.
He claimed that because football is important to Nigeria and its people on an economic, social, and cultural level, all efforts to promote the game should be conducted with the country’s best interests in mind.
Mr. Enoh went on to say that if implemented, it will guarantee equitable representation for the nation’s game’s merits and attractiveness and need to be completed inside the upcoming year.
The former minister informed his guests that Nigeria’s football regulations needed to be adaptable enough to take into account the unique features of the country.
He told them that the NFF does not have to wait for FIFA’s universal law, which might not address those specific conditions and give us no influence over the timeframes, if FIFA recognizes the unique circumstances in every country (as mentioned).
Before forwarding the revised paperwork to FIFA, he asked the NFF to begin and complete all expected adjustments for adoption, ratification, and approval.
The fact is that the former minister did a great job at the right time, and Shehu Dikko should emphasize this because of the wealth of knowledge involved.
Unfortunately, until the minister’s ministry was disbanded and the NSC replaced it, Gusau and his associates did nothing about minister’s words.
Nearly a year has passed since the minister issued the directives, but the NFF has not yet begun or implemented anything concrete to demonstrate its commitment to and seriousness about the minister’s instructions.
Many of us believe that the minister’s directive is beneficial to the game and will allow for the participation of more pertinent stakeholders in the congress.
The congress that will direct our soccer as it is played in other nations will also be able to view or hear from the brightest minds and actual stakeholders.
The NFF elective congress’s enlargement is undoubtedly not something that will happen overnight. It’s a time-consuming process that requires organization.
And if the procedure starts early and on schedule, the twelve months the former minister allotted was sufficient.
We must provide serious and more pertinent stakeholders the opportunity to lead the NFF if we truly want this nation’s football to progress.
Additionally, if it is put into effect, the sole step will put an end to the series of continuous lawsuits that followed each NFF-elective congress.
I thought Shehu Dikko would pay more attention to that because the government, the vast majority of football fans, and stakeholders in the country are worried about it.
Football cannot grow or advance with the current group of individuals running its operations.
We currently need to address the system’s imbalance, which left other stakeholders with only one representative each as the 37 state/FCT FA chairmen controlled the 44-member NFF electoral congress.
Because of this, we used to see a number of lawsuits from people who felt underrepresented in the system, which was controlled by a small percentage of the nation’s football associations’ chairmen, both before and after each NFF electoral congress.
Because of this, I will keep urging Shehu Dikko, the nation’s top sports administrator, to instruct the NFF to take the proper course of action by creating the framework that would draw more serious and sincere participants to its election congress.
The current arrangement, in which only the chairmen of the Football Associations from each state and a few others have appointed themselves Alfas and Omegas, is perceived by everyone as impeding the growth and development of soccer, and Dikko needs to ask that they do away with it.
The fate and destiny of almost over 200 million Nigerians cannot be allowed to be decided by only 44 people. It is not proper and unacceptable.
In the current arrangement, they allotted one representative each for the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), Nigeria Nationwide League (NNL), Nigeria Women League (NWLO), Nigeria Referee Association (NRA), Nigeria Coaches Association, and Players Union.
As I indicated above, this is flawed and self-centered, making it inaccurate, inadequate, and unsatisfactory.
Given our population and the country’s football fan base, something better must be put into place, as the former minister recommended, in order to fully reflect and accommodate a variety of interests. We need to offer a solution that will be more acceptable to everyone.
I remembered that in order to serve all interest groups, I had previously suggested that the elective congress be expanded to 111 members or more.
Since they are the actual stakeholders, the 20 Nigeria Professional Football League clubs, the 12 Nigeria Nationwide League clubs, and the 12 Nigeria Women League clubs should all be represented in the election congress in addition to the 37 state/FCT Football Association head.
Six or more members of the Nigeria Coaches Association, the Nigeria Referees Association, and the Players Union from each of the six regions of the nation will also be present at the congress. SWAN and NAPHER-SD can also be part of the congress.
However, it is wrong and needs to be fixed to let the chairs of state football associations outnumber everyone else because they are just serving their own interests rather than the game’s.
Furthermore, I don’t think that the majority of them are sincere and actual stakeholders; rather, I regard them as cancerous individuals who are merely ruining the game in their states and the nation as a whole.
This and other negative opinions of theirs had a negative impact on the game in those states because most of them did not have regular state leagues. That is why most people have given up on state leagues in favor of friendly matches or regional competitions.
And such is the case with our national leagues, where the majority of games are played in stadiums that are nearly empty. European leagues have long since supplanted them.
The fact that the majority of the teams in our leagues are government clubs run by unfit individuals is another reason why private involvement is discouraged.
Therefore, the only way we can elect skilled and capable leaders who can make our soccer the best in Africa and the globe is by increasing the size of our electoral congress.
Our teams are struggling in the African club championships, barely making it to the group stages, which is the reason why everything is wrong with our game.
Our referees are also not appointed in any CAF or FIFA-organized competitions because of their poor performance in our local leagues.
Therefore, if we give everyone an equal chance to actively participate in the system and contribute to its improvement, soccer will be the only time it will be able to grow.
As a result, I encouraged the Gusau’s NFF to act patriotically by fulfilling their obligations. To get things started, they must first ask its stakeholders for changes or memorandums.
After that, clean draft copies are made and sent to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, states, and all of its affiliate members for evaluation and comments before being approved and ratified by an Extraordinary Congress.
The NFF should then transmit it to its superior Confederation and International Federation for assessment and approval as a working document for the federation.
None of those things mentioned above will ever happen all at once or in one day. The NFF must assign a day, time, and human and material resources in order to finish the work.