Months after the Honorable Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh directed the Nigerian Football Federation’s (NFF) to expand its elective congress in order to accommodate more and other relevant stakeholders, the NFF is yet to start any tangible move in that regard.
It could be recalled that the minister gave the directives during a strategic meeting with the executive board of the Nigerian Football Federation in his office and asserted that football’s economic, social and cultural value to Nigeria and its citizens means that whatever needs to be done for the development of the game should be undertaken seriously in the interest of the nation.
The minister Enoh added that if effected, it will ensure proportional representation for the good and beauty of the game in the country and should be done in the next coming 12 months.
The minister further added that Nigeria’s football legislation should be adaptive to the uniqueness of the country’s composition and factors peculiar to it.
Mr Enoh told the NFF executive that if FIFA recognizes the unique situations in each country (as mentioned), then the NFF does not need to wait for the universal statute (of FIFA), as it may not cover those unique situations and we may not have control of the timelines.
He then stated that, NFF should initiate and conclude all expected amendments for adoption through to ratification and approval within the next one year and send the amended documents to FIFA.
The fact of the matter is that the minister did very well and at the right time and most of us see a lot of wisdom in his orders and directives to the NFF on the expansion of its elective congress.
But sadly, from the month of October last year when the minister gave the directives to date, the NFF is yet to start or put any tangible thing on the ground to show its seriousness and allegiance with the minister’s directives.
As I said it before, the minister’s order was good and for the good of the game and also a welcome development which will see or enable more relevant stakeholders in the congress. It will also allow or see the best brains and real stakeholders in the congress that will steer our soccer.
It is for sure, the expansion of the NFF elective congress is not something that will come in a day. It is a process that needs to be well organized and equally takes time. And the 12 months the minister gave is very enough and adequate if at all the process begins early or in good time.
I am sure the minister’s order was to allow more relevant stakeholders which will halt or put an end to the series of litigations that occurred after every NFF elective congress.
And to put a stop to all these embarrassment and series of litigation every time the NFF holds its elective congress, the minister’s directive needs to be taken seriously and implemented.
Alas, before the minister’s directives, many people have been crying for the change in the great injustice where the 37 state/FCT FA chairmen dominated the 44 number NFF elective congress leaving other stakeholders with one, one representative each.
Before and after every NFF elective congress we used to witness various litigations from those that felt shortchanged in the system that was dominated by a fraction of the football stakeholders in the country.
That is why most of us see the minister’s directives as rightly and timely. The NFF should do the needful by putting necessary structure that will bring in more serious and genuine stakeholders into its elective congress.
The minister wants to do away with the present formula or arrangement where only states’ chairmen of the Football Associations and few others made themselves Alfas and Omegas which everybody is seeing as an impediment to soccer growth and development.
A situation where we have the 37 FA state chairmen out of 44 elective congress as members will not work and is unacceptable. There is no place in the world where this madness is being put into practice.
We should not forget that Nigeria is big and large and there is no way 44 people can represent and decide for over 200 million Nigerians.
As I stated earlier in one of my write-ups, the One representative for Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), one representative for Nigeria Nationwide League (NNL), one representative for Nigeria Women League (NWLO), one representative for Nigeria Referee Association (NRA), one representative for Nigeria Coaches Association and one representative for Players Union in the present arrangement is wrong and unacceptable.
Considering our population and the football followership of the game in the country something better needs to be put in place so that various interests will be represented and accommodated as the minister suggests.
We need to come with something that will be more acceptable to our people and the entire stakeholders. I remembered that in my previous articles I suggested that the elective congress should be expanded to about 111 members or even more.
Apart from the 37 state/FCT Football Association chairman, all the 20 Nigeria Professional Football League clubs, the 12 Nigeria Nationwide League clubs and the 12 Nigeria Women League clubs should all be part of the elective congress because they are the real stakeholders.
Also to be in the congress will be 6 or more members of the Nigeria Referees Association, members of Nigeria Coaches Association and members of Players Union from all the six geographical zones of the country.
I also want representatives of NAPHER-SD and that of SWAN to be part of that congress.
A situation where state’s Football Association chairmen have hijacked the activities of the popular game of the world in their various states and that of the NFF should be discouraged and stopped because they are only promoting their interest and not that of the game.
More so, I don’t see most of them as genuine and real stakeholders but as cancer who are only killing the game in their respective states and also in the country.
This and many negative attitudes of theirs have negatively affected the game in most states as there were no regular states leagues in most states. That is why most people have since deserted state leagues and opted for friendly matches or local competitions.
That is equally what we got in our national leagues. There is nothing in them. People have for long deserted them for European leagues.
And that explained why there is no private participation in our leagues. What we have are all government clubs headed by wrong persons.
It is only when we enlarge our elective congress that we will be able to have and elect the right people who will lead our fledgling soccer and transform it to the best among African countries.
At present everything is wrong with our football as our teams don’t fare well in club competitions in the African continent.
Our referees too are not appointed in any CAF or FIFA organized competitions due to the way and manner they handled our local leagues.
And the only way our soccer can develop is when we allow a level playing ground for all to actively participate in the system and contribute for its betterment.
More so, this is not what we see in other African states. They used to have a large number of people who are mostly club owners or real stakeholders.
But in our case, the situation is different as people with no teams or who are not genuine stakeholders are the very people occupying and running our state’s football associations and the NFF.
And for the process of amendment of any National Sports Federation in the country like ours including Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), the NFF needs to start first by calling for memorandum or amendments from its stakeholders.
Thereafter, clean draft copies are made and sent to all its affiliate members, states and FCT Abuja for observations and comments before an Extraordinary Congress for ratification and endorsement by the congress.
From then, the NFF should send it to its superior Confederation and International Federation for consideration and approval as a working document for the federation.
All these, will not and will never happen at once and in one day. The NFF needs to fix date, time and put human and material resources in place to actualize the work.
That is the only way out.