Whenever things seem to be going well for football lovers in Nigeria, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) always finds a way to derail progress.
Time and again, the NFF proves to be the biggest obstacle to the success of Nigerian football.
It is not difficult to understand why the NFF has continued to act against the interest of the Super Eagles and Nigerian football as a whole.
One would expect that after the failure in the just-concluded FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the leaders of the NFF would sit up and address issues that affect players’ morale, especially at a critical stage of the Africa Cup of Nations where players need to stay motivated in order to perform well. Sadly, this has not been the case, instead of learning from past mistakes, the NFF continues to show Nigerians that they care more about their personal interests than the success of our national teams.
While other countries are fully preparing for their upcoming matches, the Super Eagles are again threatening to boycott training or refuse to travel to Marrakech for their match against Algeria as a result of unpaid match winning bonuses from games against Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, and most recently, Mozambique.
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Given how unpaid bonuses have previously cost Nigeria qualification for major tournaments, one would think the NFF would avoid repeating the same mistake.
Unfortunately, we are back to the same old story.
If memory serves us right, during the World Cup playoffs, players complained about unpaid bonuses dating as far back as 2019. This led to the team missing a day of training, which affected their performance and eventually contributed to their elimination by the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As a nation, we must support the players in whatever decision they take regarding further participation in the Nations Cup. Sometimes, public embarrassment seems to be the only solution that forces the NFF to take players seriously and do the right thing.
Recently, the NFF set up a disciplinary committee to address corruption among Nigerian referees. While this is a step in the right direction, real change will not happen unless those at the top also change their ways.
For Nigerian football to move forward, anyone who fails to perform their duties should be held accountable and removed if necessary. This will serve as a warning to others and encourage responsibility, transparency, and commitment to the growth of our football.
Do well to leave us with your thoughts.
