Comprehensive reform of Nigerian football

Following the declining fortunes of the Super Eagles and the Super Falcons at continental and global football competitions, President Bola Tinubu recently ordered a comprehensive reform of Nigerian football. The President’s order came on the heels of the resignation of Ibrahim Gusau as president of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). There were other resignations from the members of NFF board.

According to the President, “the reform must respond to a long-standing need to strengthen governance, administration, stakeholder representation, development pathways, domestic competitions and accountability across Nigerian football.”

President Tinubu also observed that “football, Nigeria’s most popular sport and the greatest beneficiary of public support, in investment and national attention, has continued to struggle basically due to structural deficits within the system.” Before the development, many Nigerians had called for total overhaul of the nation’s football in the face of glaring underperformance of both the Super Eagles and the Super Falcons in African and world football tournaments in recent times.

While the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the 2026 World Cup held in United States, Mexico and Canada, the Super Falcons failed to win what would have been their 11th WAFCON title in Morocco this year. They also failed to qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

The President had also directed the chairman of the National Sports commission (NSC) to work with the NFF Secretariat and relevant football stakeholders to ensure continuity in essential football administration and facilitate a broad, consultative reform process. It is good that FIFA has accepted the resignations of principal officers of NFF. It also pledged to continue its engagement with Nigerian government and the NFF administration and Confederation of African Football (CAF) in reforming Nigerian football.

We laud the President’s intervention to save the nation’s football from imminent death and welcome FIFA’s readiness to assist Nigeria and football bodies in their reform efforts. At the same time, we task those saddled with the comprehensive reform of Nigerian football to see the assignment as a national duty that must be performed with utmost patriotism and sincerity of purpose.

The committee should dismantle the bureaucratic bottlenecks and systemic corruption in our football house which have impeded our football progress in recent regional, continental and global tournaments. There is urgent need for professionals to man the NFF and even the NSC. We believe that enlisting the services of our past male and female footballers, who distinguished themselves in the game, will enhance the fortunes of our football.

Despite having some of the best talented footballers in leading football leagues in the world, it is sad that Nigerian football is fast depreciating to the extent that the Super Eagles had missed two World Cup tournaments. The Super Falcons also missed the 2027 Women’s World Cup slated for Brazil.

It is unfortunate that Nigeria, the African football powerhouse, has been struggling to assert itself on the African continent and the international scene, eliciting calls for football reforms. We call for an efficient football house which must prioritise national aspirations and goals. The committee must restore Nigeria’s lost football fame and glory. We must not be struggling to qualify for continental and world football tournaments where we had earlier excelled.

The reform must be holistic and not cosmetic. Let the exercise begin with the constitution of the NFF Congress, which is the highest decision-making body that elects the president, amends the statutes, and approves budgets. Currently, 37 state chairmen of the NFF constitute the Congress. The new reform must broaden the membership of the Congress to include coaches and ex-footballers.

Nigeria has many good ex-footballers, who excelled as the football directors of major international clubs. This is the right time to bring them on board. Needless to say, ex-footballers who have shown remarkable patriotism in representing the nation and excelling and have also played at the highest level and imbibed great ideas capable of moving Nigerian football forward should be recruited to run Nigerian football. The Cameroonian Football Federation president, Samuel Etoo, an ex-footballer with the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, has served as a good example of what former professional footballers can bring to the African game.

We hope that the new football reforms would revive the local league. Compared to the Egyptian, Moroccan, Tunisian, South Africa or Congolese leagues, Nigerian league has lost its glamour, with most Nigerian fans preferring to watch European leagues. The good old days of Iwuanyanwu Nationale, Shooting Stars, Leventis United, Abiola Babes, Ranchers Bees, Bendel Insurance, Enugu Rangers and BCC Lions of Gboko should be recreated urgently to draw conversations around the local league. Therefore, more investments are needed to re-establish the dominance of Nigerian football teams at continental and global levels.