Football
By Ibrahim
Chonoko
The Chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr Amaju
Pinnick, has said that lack of long term planning was responsible for Nigeria's
failure in major sporting competitions.
In an interactive session with newsmen in London, Pinnick said
long term strategy, which was necessary for successful outings in competitions,
was alien to Nigeria, adding that quick-fix strategies always led to dismal
results. "Nigerians are impatient with poor results. If you don't win, you
resign. There is no continuity," he said, pointing out, however, that
"football is a journey, not a destination."
Mr Pinnick further listed undue criticisms and unnecessary
litigations against sports administrators and organisations as other issues
that hamper the development of sports in the country. He disclosed that the NFF
lost $3m dollars sponsorship deals due to litigations, instability and
credibility issues, stressing that many sponsors, especially foreign based
ones, didn't like to have anything to do with Nigerian football due to the
aforementioned issues.
To deal with the credibility problems, Pinnick said the NFF
adopted measures including auditing of the federation's accounts by FIFA
auditors, stressing that many sponsors were now willing to do business with the
NFF. Following the adoption of the measures, he said, Nigeria became the first
country in Africa to be given FIFAconnect status, and the second after South
Africa to be given FIFA-Integrity status, which culminated in the recent visit
of the FIFA president to Nigeria.
He disclosed that the NFF had concluded a sponsorship deal with a
yet to be named sponsors for the Super Eagles kits, saying the new kits would
be unveiled in London this week. He also said there was a possibility of the
NFF wrapping up a new sponsorship deal with a high profile sponsor for the
Football Association (FA) cup in the coming weeks, and emphasised that
"football in Nigeria has now come of age."
Credit: Daily Trust,
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