Daily Independent Online.
*
Monday,July 19, 2004.
Wanted: A National Conference on our football
with Tayo Balogun
Regular readers of
this column would know about my reluctance to write about the Secretary General
of the NFA, Chief Taiwo Ogunjubi. Like most of them, I know that there is a lot
wrong with our Football. We also have a sort of expectation that the man
regarded as the point man on our Football house would have a lot to do with
remedying the ills of our Football. And somehow, somehow, it does appear that
the one-time Shooting Stars captain was not doing enough for our Football.
Amongst gentlemen,
I always want to pretend I am one even though I am quite capable of being an
area boy, there is an unwritten agreement that you do not hit your friend
without giving him a chance to defend himself. That is why for instance people
say Dogs don't eat dogs unless they don't have anything else to eat. The
secretary general of the NFA happens to be one person I know qualifies to be
regarded as a friend. More because of my links to the family, which I regard as
quite extensive.
Late last year, a
group of stakeholders on Nigerian Football invited me to a meeting where a need
to send a petition to the president was examined. The letter of protest was
going to be centred around what we thought was wrong with our football. Since
the initial contact with me the group had met several times with the same
mission: Finding out what is wrong with our football and providing solution for
same.
Two weeks ago, we
got a lift when the minister of sports announced that he was going to
restructure the NFA. In desperate telephone calls to ourselves we applauded the
move which we generally regarded as a bold step taken too late and at a wrong
time. After all, as they say, it is better late than never.
But two things
happened that made us meet in urgent circumstances. First, the announcement of
members of the Restructuring Committee and their terms of reference as shocking
and disappointing. Second, my article on this page last week provided some
cause for concern. The overriding impression was that the minister's action has
a hidden agenda that is not specifically beneficial to our football
development. The impression created an the minds of most of us is that Colonel
Muhammed, the sport minister has once again been fooled into taking action on a
matter on which he has not been given all the facts. Specifically, the (1 7)
man panel is being asked to discuss a subject about which they hold extreme
views. From public utterances, at least ten of them are of the view that decree
101 is good enough, with some slight modification, for our football. Only one
of the group of seventeen believes in the abrogation of the law governing our
football. When you take the Review Committee memberships into consideration all
five journalists are with a particular
organisation! The suspicion is that the minister or those who want to
use him, have a hidden agenda! The Minister wants to look at how our football
can be properly marketed yet he has not deemed it fit to involve anyone of the
"big" spenders in our sports to be on his committee.
It appears that the
minister has an agenda that he wants a hand picked committee to legitimise.
Would someone remind Colonel Muhammed that his Restructure Committee would not
come out with anything different from the efforts of earlier committees. Ask
Chief Femi Olukanmi. Ask Patrick Okpomo. Ask those committee members who are
part of the vision 2010 body. They will tell you that there is nothing more to
add.
Some have suggested
that the committee is likely to disrupt our World Cup campaign. I agree. By the
time the committee submits its report mid October we would have played two key
matches. We would have employed a new coach. Christian Chukwu's contract would
have been reviewed.
The calendar is
quite crowded. How does the Minister expect the NFA to focus extensively on
these programme/project when it is distracted by a Restructure programme that
smirks more of witch hunting agenda? What does he want? Why did Steven Akija
discard the Okpomo Restructuring programme ? What is wrong with the programme?
From available
information, we know that the Sports Ministry itself is in a mess. Directors
are doing nothing. There are some of them who are busy planning the failure of
programmes they are not involved in. We in the press know what each Director
thinks of the other . I think Colonel Muhammed means well but his first task is
to look around him. He is largely surrounded by self-seekers who would go to
any length to butter their bread rather than do what is right.
True, a lot is
wrong with our football. Truly there is need to define responsibilities between
the board and the secretariat. At the moment we have a board that wants to do
the work of the secretary of our football. We have a Secretary-General that was
once a top footballer and who has also administered two prominent football
teems. He should be encouraged to function more efficiently. His powers should
be defined and his responsibilities too! But the problem with our football is
not about the NFA. It is about fundamental issues of structure. I think that we
should encourage the minister to help us. My argument is that we must learn
from the past. And if we are to review and restructure our football we must do
this independent of the ministry. We must have a stakeholders conference.
Something close to what the politicians call a National Conference on football.
The issues involved are beyond personalities.
First of course, we
must qualify for the World Cup. My suggestion:
(i) Set up a Task
Force on the World Cup.
(ii) By next year
when we would have qualified, we can afford the distraction of a jamboree.
(iii) In the
meantime let the ministry leave the NFA alone to work within the laws
establishing it.
This is an Olympic
year. The Ministry promised ten gold medals last year. I am certain that we
will not win even a bronze medal. And sports watchers say it is because of the
neglect to other sports.
Our minister must
wake up to present realities. He needs to shake his team at the sports ministry
first. We know there is a lot wrong with our football. But his restructure
committee is not well intentioned. I feel that there is an evil agenda. The
type that would only hurt our football. He should not spend too much time
trying to cure a skin rash in the NFA when he should be treating the leprosy in
the sports ministry!
Let the Minister
convene a national conference on sports. His cosmetic committees wont do.
