Untold Benefits Of Having A Foreigner As NFF President

Emmanuel Aziken writes that the unpopular decision of the NFF to procure a foreign gaffer for the Super Eagles is in tandem with the general drift of governance in the country that promotes self-interest at the cost of the collective good.

Perhaps nothing better reflects the despair of Nigerians than the decision of the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF to hire the former Mali international Eric Chelle as coach for the Super Eagles.

In a country that has progressed in error across many sectors and languished on account of the many divisions in the polity, it is still shocking that the authorities would toy with the single passion that unites the majority of Nigerians.

The news of Chelle’s choice came as a rude shock to the majority of Nigerians. Most Nigerians had not heard of the former Mali coach until the announcement.

They certainly would not have heard of him because he had not won any significant plaque either as team captain or coach.

After missing out in the last World Cup in Qatar, Nigeria’s quest for participation in the 2026 Mundial is also at risk. Lying at the fifth position in Group C, the country’s bid for qualification can only sail through if the other countries all fail their matches while Nigeria wins all!

The excuse being given by the few supporters of the Ibrahim Gusau-led NFF that it was desperation for qualification that led them to the choice of Chelle is itself ironic. Chelle by all comparisons does not compare with many Nigerian football managers either plying their trade locally or abroad.

The money he is reportedly being offered is far above what better Nigerians have been offered.

Remarkably, the process that led to the announcement of Chelle came in the same opaque way that has been reflective of our governance system. That is the lack of transparency that is evident in the wrong choices that have led Nigeria to its benighted state.

Just last Thursday, the minister of Finance, Wale Edun asked senators to allow him to brief them in camera on how the administration expended the savings made from the removal of subsidies on petrol.

All over the polity, secrecy envelopes the wheel of governance. The other day, a top government official was being asked the cost of a project and he averred that it was not auspicious on his part to reveal the cost.

Such arrogance has fed the corruption that has traversed every section of the polity. The corruption in the sports sector and football in particular is said to be pervasive.

NFF board members are alleged to project incompetent players to coaches for whatever benefit that comes their way.

Remarkably, the maladministration in Nigeria football did not start with the Gusau-led administration. However, the foibles of this particular administration is undoubtedly beyond reason.

The Gusau administration like many before, it has been short-sighted on their goals, not looking at the bigger picture of developing football to strengthen all levers of the game in the country.

NFF administrators are always looking forward to the next competition and not necessarily giving breadth and width in a way to project the game as a legacy across all sectors.

We have along the way lost such glorifying tourneys like Principal Cup, YFSON and such that groomed footballers for the senior team. Today, we have to import foreign-based Nigerians like the current African Footballer of the Year, Ademola Lookman to beef up our football squad.

It is a shame that instead of developing our footballers for Europe, our footballers almost on their own develop themselves for the European market.

The present and past NFF boards have failed to build a policy of developing football to become a national sport, rather they have along the way squandered the inheritance of yore. It is this lack of capacity on the NFF board that has led to this ad-hoc method of hiring coaches at short notice for serious competitions.

Just before the 2010 World Cup, the federation recruited Lars Lagerback as Nigeria coach. He called our players to meet up with him in Europe and went with the team to South Africa where they did not measure up. The coach did not even bother to return to Nigeria!

It is ironic that the coaches that have built legacy in Nigeria were those who endured for a reasonable number of time before major competitions.

Among those one can remember as winners were Clemens Westerhof, 1989-1994; Amodu Shaibu 1994-1995; 1996-1997; 2001-2002; 2008-2010, 21. Amodu Shaibu (Nigeria) – 1994-1995; 1996-1997; 2001-2002; 2008-2010; Johannes Bonfrere (Netherlands) – 1995-1996; 1999-2001; Stephen Keshi 2010-2015; Samson Siasia and Austin Eguaoven.

It is not as if some others like Sunday Oliseh and Finidi George who could have also done well were bad coaches, but the toxic emissions from the NFF did not allow them to thrive.

There is no doubt that the problem of our football is the NFF. The resort of the NFF for foreign coaches at the expense of stability for our good Nigerian-born coaches is simply because of the selfish interest of the NFF members.

It is on record that one of the best football managers in the world in the person of Michael Emenalo was the brain behind many of the technical innovations that drew glory to Chelsea. Today he is reportedly the brain behind the colouration of football in Saudi Arabia. Had he been engaged in Nigeria he would have since been burnt up. That is the travesty of the Nigerian situation.

It appears that the only way to move Nigeria football forward is to get a foreign NFF president!

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