Nigerian Football Crisis - A New Dawn After Darkness!

By Thursday night, as I write this, Nigeria has escaped FIFA's ban by the whiskers. I don't have the details but one of two things must have happened.

The first is that a letter has gone to FIFA, written and signed by Musa Amadu, the Secretary-General of the NFA that Pinnick Amaju, somehow, has been restored to the role of President of the NFF.

The second is that the earlier order of the Jos High Court annulling the results of the September elections into the Executive Committee of the NFA, at the resumed hearing of the matter on Thursday morning, has been vacated.

How that would come to be is another matter for conjecture - by coercion, by concession, by negotiation or by fiat?

Otherwise, I see no way out of this quagmire for as long as one of the two contending factions sticks to its guns and insists on the sanctity of its mandate.

In this saga that has enveloped Nigerian football since the end of the World Cup in July 2014 there is a silver lining.

The whole matter now presents the NFA with an excellent opportunity to see the folly of its previous ways, and to start now to do things correctly.

The generality of Nigerians are tired of this whole matter of elections into the NFA and, particularly, the constant threat by FIFA to ban the country as a result of a faulty system.

So, what should the country do to avoid future conflicts, threats and suspensions?

Into the future with hope!

There are two issues that usually create problems for Nigeria in football. The first is the issue of age-falsification or careless documentation by the secretariat of the NFA during age-group competitions.

The second is the Statutes of the NFA that ignites controversy and conflict every 4 years when the matter of elections comes up and an incumbent wants to manipulate his way to remain in power.

The NFA Executive Committee that emerges from the present crisis must make righting the wrongs that often ignite the flames of conflict in the present system a priority.

Nigeria has suffered the indignity of international suspensions twice in the past. So, the new NFA must do everything in its power to avoid a future occurrence.

The starting point is for the NFA to deliver its mandate of promoting the development of football at the grassroots level through the schools system. That move would provide football development with an existing structure and enhance its credibility.

The new NFA must, therefore, restrict participation in all under-17 competitions to students in schools only. This will not only help promote the combination of football and education in the society, but also limit the level of cheating through falsification of documents.

On the matter of elections into the board of the NFA the solution is simple.

The new Executive Committee that emerges from the present crisis should make it a priority to set up an ad-hoc committee with membership drawn from within and outside the board to look at the present statutes of the NFA and fix it! A new statutes must reflect equity, fair play, a level playing field for all and equal representation by all the affiliates of the NFA, to guide future elections into the board.

The draft document of the ad-hoc committee will be submitted to the new General Assembly of the NFA that must be constituted soonest. As it is presently, the General Assembly of the Nigeria Football Association no longer exists.

By November 2014, the tenures of all the boards of State Football Associations in Nigeria, except Lagos State that will expire in January of 2015, have officially ended.

The new Executive Committee must therefore now instruct all State FAs to immediately activate the process of conducting fresh elections into their boards.

The Assembly of the leadership of State FAs, plus elected leaders of all the other affiliate members, as listed in the present statutes of the NFA, would then form a new General Assembly to shape the future of Nigerian football.

One of the first assignments of the General Assembly must be to come up new statutes to reflect a truly democratic and just electoral process to be used for the next elections when the tenure of the present board ends in 2018.

The main issues to be fixed in the statutes are the sequence of the elections. That is, all elections into the boards of the various bodies affiliated to the NFA must precede the national Executive Committee elections!

The issue of the electorate must also be addressed. Membership of the congress that elects the Executive Committee must have equal representation of all affiliate members.

When these two major issues are fixed, the road to peace, progress and prosperity for Nigerian football would have been firmly laid.

Genuine football stakeholders are likely to emerge to oversee Nigerian football and end the 4-yearly squabbles that accompany the elections for a new leadership.

The Secretary-General for the NFA

Finally, it is important that the new NFA board works closely with the Minister of Sports to seek out and appoint a new Secretary-General for the NFA. He or she must have deep knowledge and understanding of Nigerian football, a clear vision to run the secretariat and rid it of all the corruption issues and tendencies that have retarded growth of the football leagues and infected all its affiliate members.

What is needed is a good, competent, mature and experienced administrator to navigate the secretariat of the NFA successfully through the challenges of the next 4 years!

See more at: Daily Trust