Stakeholders demand grassroots reforms to fix Nigerian football

Stakeholders have called for grassroots-driven reforms in Nigerian football as the country enters a new phase following the resignation of the Nigeria Football Federation board and President Bola Tinubu’s call to address what he described as “repeated failures”.

An interim board has been appointed to lead the NFF after its president, Ibrahim Gusau, general secretary Mohammed Sanusi and the 11 other members of the executive committee resigned, leaving a power vacuum at the top of the country’s football administration.

Emmanuel Ikpeme, who previously served as deputy general secretary, has been appointed interim general secretary, while Ademola Olajire, who headed the NFF’s media and communications department, will serve as interim deputy general secretary.

Gusau, whose tenure was due to expire in September, confirmed his resignation during a news conference in Abuja last Thursday.

The NFF had faced mounting scrutiny over the performance of Nigeria’s national and youth teams, particularly the failure of the men’s and women’s senior teams to qualify for their respective World Cups.

Beyond results on the pitch, the football federation has also faced questions over governance and financial management.

In the wake of the development, Yemi Idowu, a member of the 10-year Football Masterplan established by the late President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to redesign Nigeria’s football development process, said the reforms must begin with the country’s local football structure.

“The reform is there. They just have to follow what has been recommended,” Idowu said.

He said a functional local football structure would provide the foundation for stronger state, regional and national football.

Idowu said: “If you can have your local football functioning, your state football will work well.

“If your state football is working well, your regional football will work well. If your regional football is working well, your national football will work well.

“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? How can you have state U-17 competition when you don’t have local government U-17 competition?

“But if people want to sit down in Abuja and invite anybody from the Canary Islands that you don’t know who they are and gather them for four weeks to go and play in the U-17 Africa Cup and expect another result, it’s not possible.”

Former international and chairman of the Advocacy for Nigeria Football Reform Initiative, Harrison Jalla, also called for reforms that would produce a more democratic football administration.

Jalla said: “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.”

The National Sports Commission is also said to be in contact with FIFA over the setting up of a normalisation committee before fresh elections are held to usher in a new board.