Photo Credit: Punch Newspapers / Original photo from Punch Newspapers
Stakeholders Demand Grassroots Reforms to Fix Nigerian Football

Football stakeholders in Nigeria are calling for comprehensive, grassroots-focused reforms as the country’s football administration enters a transitional period.

The calls come after the entire board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) resigned, following President Bola Tinubu’s directive to address what he termed as “repeated failures” in the sport.

An interim leadership has been put in place to fill the vacuum created by the exit of NFF President Ibrahim Gusau, General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi, and 11 other executive committee members. Emmanuel Ikpeme, former deputy general secretary, has been named interim general secretary, while Ademola Olajire, former head of media and communications, will act as interim deputy general secretary.

Gusau, whose tenure was scheduled to end in September, announced his resignation at a press conference in Abuja last Thursday.

The NFF had been under intense pressure over poor results from national teams, including the failure of both the men’s and women’s senior teams to qualify for the World Cup, as well as concerns over governance and financial accountability.

Reacting to the development, Yemi Idowu, a member of the 10-year Football Masterplan set up by the late former President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure football development in Nigeria, said the solution lies in rebuilding from the bottom.

According to Idowu, the blueprint for reform already exists and only needs to be implemented. He argued that functional local government football will lead to functional state, regional, and ultimately national football.

He questioned how Nigeria expects to compete at the African U-17 level without a proper developmental pathway, noting: “How can we go to African U-17 competition and we don’t have Nigerian U-17 competition? How can you have Nigerian U-17 competition when you don’t have state U-17 competition?”

He also criticized the practice of assembling players from the diaspora within weeks for major tournaments without a structured local development system.

Similarly, former international and chairman of the Advocacy for Nigeria Football Reform Initiative, Harrison Jalla, said reforms must usher in a truly democratic system.

“The struggle is not over until the right thing is done. The NFF Congress and its executive committee must be democratically elected on an equal representative basis by all federating units and open to private-sector participation,” Jalla stated.

Meanwhile, the National Sports Commission is reportedly engaging FIFA on the possibility of constituting a normalisation committee to oversee fresh elections for a new NFF board.
Source: Punch Newspapers –