Wanted: A Professionally Managed NFF

By Tayo Balogun

Some years ago, in frustration, Deji Tinubu, then a member of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Board, called me up one early morning.

“Egbon, I have an axe to grind with you. I don’t like the way you seem to enjoy bashing the FA. It’s like you have a grudge with the body. We never do anything right as far as you are concerned…” Deji went on to explain some curious decisions of the NFF to me. At the end of our discussion, he asked me to contest to join the Board of Nigeria’s football ruling body. He assured me I would only understand how the NFF works as an insider. I went on to inform him that from my observations, it was obvious our football governing body was not being professionally run. More importantly, information about what they do or don’t do was not usually readily available.

Today, as I remember my discussion with Deji Tinubu (now of blessed memory) and the other accusations hurled at me by different NFF officials, I wonder why things have continued to get increasingly bad. At a time, the NFF was going to take me to court (I don’t know why they could not follow up on their threat).

Today, my intention is not to bore you with my quarrels with our football governing body. My view today is that our football has grown beyond the incompetence of the present NFF board and management.

Let me illustrate: Three weeks to a major tournament, our German head coach, Gernot Rohr, was sacked. After dilly-dallying for a couple of days, the NFF appointed its Technical Director, Augustine Eguavoen, to take charge of the team on a temporary basis. A week later, we were told that a ‘magician’ had been appointed to correct the perceived ills in the way our national football team plays. Please note that this ‘magician/coach’ was appointed after due consultation with and recommendation of the “two best coaches in the world” Arsene Wenger and his nemesis, Jose Mourinho. (Please be kind enough to ignore the fact that these two gentlemen have diametrically opposed views on coaching a football team). We were told that this ‘Magical’ Jose Peseiro was so good and detailed that he knows the type of agbo each player in the Super Eagles takes. The President of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick, was so impressed with Peseiro’s resume that he originally wanted him to take over the Super Eagles immediately. Remember Pinnick once branded Sunday Oliseh the “Guardiola of Africa”?

Well, Nigerians later got to know that Mr Peseiro was a mere itinerant coach who has not been able to stay on a job long enough to be effective. Eguavoen, against all expectations won his first match, then the second one. By the time he won his third match, our NFF suddenly realized that Cerezo as Eguavoen is fondly called, had once coached the Super Eagles with near superlative results. He was undefeated in 16 of the 18 matches he played. What was more, he once won a bronze medal at AFCON!

Now, the questions won’t stop. Why was Gernot Rohr not sacked immediately after the last World Cup in Russia where he did poorly? Why wait till three weeks to a major competition to ask him to go? Why was Peseiro employed when his track record is so grossly inferior to that of Eguavoen? I think the answers lie in the power structure in NFF’s Sunday Dankaro House in Abuja. It is either that its President Amaju Pinnick has too much power or others have simply surrendered authority to him. Pinnick should realise that the head of the NFF is not necessarily the most intelligent. He was elected to lead a body of near equals saddled with the onerous task of moving Nigeria’s football forward, not keeping it stuck in medieval times.

Now, we have the Black Stars hurdle before us and while we are disrupting our preparations, the Ghanaians are doing all they can to better us to a World Cup ticket. What should we do? Leave the coaching staff under Eguavoen alone. Give them all they need to succeed. Drop this diversionary talk of bringing in Emmanuel Amuneke to join the coaching crew. Too many cooks spoil the broth. Let Eguavoen be the one to request for whoever he needs to succeed. We should plan to win both matches in Ghana and Nigeria. We must put plans in place to turn the Moshood Abiola National Stadium into the 13th player after we have ensured that the fans at the stadium are the 12th. Our NFF must also use its connection to ensure that the referees for the two matches in Ghana and Nigeria have impeccable credentials. If we do these, we will surmount the Ghana hurdle. I wish my country well and want Sunday Dare to succeed in this as our Sports Minister.