Daily Independent (Lagos)
Peter Edema
21 May 2011
opinion
I’ve refrained from writing about the Aminu Maigari-led board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for some reasons. The first is that as far as am concerned, it is an illegal body, having come on board in defiance of Federal High Court order. The fact that President Goodluck Jonathan looks the other way before and after the elections has not conferred on him and the board any legitimacy.
Also for Maigari and co-travellers to still be addressing themselves as Nigeria Football Federation is height of disregard to the laws of the land, since the nomenclature, Nigeria Football Federation is unknown to Nigerian law. The NFA was born via a decree in 1992 and became an Act of the Parliament when the Third Republic was born in 1999. For some people to change the name without effecting same through an Act of Parliament is telling whoever cares that Nigeria as a country can go to hell. To give credence to this fact, Maigari and his co travellers at the NFF had vowed not to answer a court summons addressed to it in the name of Nigeria Football Association. Maigari and NFF are simply telling whoever cares that they are above the law. Why will Maigari and co on the board of illegal NFF not tell the court to go to blazes when they defied a court order and nothing happened. I sincerely believe that it is only in this country that such a slap on the Judiciary will be allowed to go unpunished by the government because of the fear of Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) ban. Without Nigeria, can there be a football body, whatever the nomenclature? Of course no.
That Maigari and his co travellers are now threatening the courts with refusal to honour summons made to them speaks volume. And sure in no distance future, Maigari and the NFF will one day query the legality of the Nigerian Constitution.
I am however surprised at the double standard displayed by the government on this issue. During the reception organised for the Flying Eagles after winning the record sixth African Youth Championship in South Africa, Sports Minister, Taoheed Adedoja, addressed Maigari and co as Nigeria Football Association without any form of protestation from Maigari and other board members. But the government has done nothing to beat the board into order, meaning that it is giving a tacit support to the illegality being witnessed in the country. If the government releases funds to a body that disobeys court orders at will, even threatening not to honour any court summon addressed to it as Nigeria Football Association it that the body is ready to exist without the entity called Nigeria.
Considering all the above, one is not surprised that Maigari and the NFF have maintained an undignified silence on the happening within the domestic league. Sometimes last month, Insurance of Benin players protested on the streets of Benin over the non-payment of salaries and allowances with the NFF. Whose primary responsibility is it to ensure that players’ welfare are not toyed with? But NFF’s refusal to comment or take action makes players ordeal to end in the hands of the Edo State Government. The same also goes for Ocean Boys players who, penultimate week, protested against the Bayelsa State Government over non-payment of salaries, sign on fees and other allowances spanning over two years. After a peaceful protest by the players on the streets of Yenagoa, the players were put on house arrest with a threat to deal with the supposed six ring leaders. Today the NFF has not taken any step aimed at ending such an embarrassment that infringes on the players’ right of protest. Even a statement condemning such an act was never released. How will these players recover what they are owed when the football house that is expected to fight for them is looking the other way?
The truth about this is that there is hardly any of the clubs that is not owing its players. If players are owed this much, certainly the coaches and other technical staff will not be left out. How do we expect an improvement in the league when players and coaching staff are owed salaries? Where will the coaches have funds to attend coaching clinics when the NFF cannot organise any all through the season so as to improve on the quality of coaching?
Mike Enahoro summarised the fate of the Nigerian football thus:”To the uninformed, the successes of the Super Eagles team is a sign that things are turning the corner. My response is a sly smile, a nod and a sinking feeling in my heart. Let me tell you why? To date, we operate our leagues on a haphazard basis, with no structures or processes to formally coordinate operations. Our female national team is heading to Germany within a month, and they have to wait for the Maigari- led board to return from South Africa to focus on them (meanwhile, other teams are in training camps in Europe preparing for the competition), our plans for the female World Cup is on paper and waiting for attention. We have a female national team coach who, it was recently revealed, has not received her salaries for two years, is living in fear of being replaced at any moment, and has lost two of her most trusted assistants. Surely, Nigeria expects her to get to the quater-finals…… Only God knows how we pull off these miracles.”
If FIFA and CAF technical committee member, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, is to be taken seriously, we are just not developing our football.
Football academies, modern day football development plank, are not in existence in the country. The technical staff needed to mould these young talents are not just there, hence our resolve to cheating at underage tournaments. A FIFA agent, Tunde Fabiyi, during the week advised the NFF to take the issue of academy very seriously. His concern was that the NFF is playing lip service to grassroots development. Fabiyi is angry because a Togo team made up of players from their academy defeated Nigeria 3-2 to win the WAFU Cup.
To him, Nigeria does not have a soccer academy if all the inventories needed in an academy are considered.
The truth must be told, Maigari does not have what it takes to take Nigeria football from the doldrums. And unfortunately, those on the board are not better off.
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