Nigeria: Our Football Must Be Restructured – Dikko

Leadership (Abuja)

Bassey Ekpo Bassey

22 July 2011

Former committee member of the Nigerian Football Federation, Shehu Dikko, has said that for Nigerian football to attain its former glory of the 1980s and 1990s, our football must be restructured.

Speaking exclusively to LEADERSHIP SPORTS, Dikko said that Nigerians have “to go back to the basics and recreate the football structures in this country. Other well meaning countries are doing it, why not us?”

Dikko also suggested that the pyramid structure should be used to run football administration in Nigeria, just like in other places.

He said: “In the pyramid structure, football starts from the local government level to the state level before it finally culminates at the national level. This way football clubs in the local governments get a sense of belonging and issues concerning them are dealt with swiftly.”

Dikko, who incidentally is a FIFA GOALS PROJECT consultant, also stated that for the crises currently enveloping the Nigerian Football Federation to abate, the legal framework of the association has to be restructured. “Some people have been able to cause trouble because there is a loophole for them to exploit, if we restructure, then this issues will not creep up again.”

With respect to the electoral problems affecting football administration in the country, Dikko said: “We should stop electing all our officers at the same time and follow the European example were officers are elected in bits. For instance, we should not elect our president and other officers in the same year so that our football will not suffer and political tension will be reduced to the minimum.”

Dikko, who contested for the football association presidency in 2010, insists that he has the blueprint for restructuring the country’s football and that the football association has started implementing some of his ideas.

AllAfrica – All the Time