Don’t Make the NFF a Scapegoat for Nigerian Football
This 24-hour ultimatum for people to resign is becoming another distraction from the real issues confronting Nigerian football. Let us stop pretending that simply forcing a few people out of office will solve a problem that has been decades in the making.
The truth is simple: Nigerians don’t resign easily from public office. They are more often removed, pushed out, or replaced. So, if we are genuinely calling for accountability, let it be consistent and across the entire system.
Why single out the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)?
The problems confronting Nigerian football are far bigger than the NFF and its 12 or 13-member board.
They are systemic, institutional and deeply rooted. They involve governance, funding, infrastructure, grassroots development, player development, coaching, administration, policy, regulation and, most importantly, the overall direction of Nigeria’s sports economy.
The NFF is an important part of that ecosystem, but it is not the entire ecosystem.
If we are going to demand accountability, then accountability must extend to everyone entrusted with the responsibility of developing Nigerian football and sports. This includes the relevant government ministries and agencies, policymakers, administrators and every institution that has a role in providing the policies, funding, oversight and enabling environment necessary for sports to thrive.
The President has provided funding and support for sports, and he deserves commendation for that. But funding alone is not enough. There must also be accountability for how those resources are utilised and what measurable outcomes they produce.
The President must therefore demand accountability from those he has entrusted with the responsibility of developing our economy, including our sports economy.
This is not about protecting the NFF. It is about protecting the truth.
We must resist the temptation to find a convenient scapegoat every time Nigerian football encounters a crisis. Removing one board, or forcing a few individuals to resign, may satisfy public anger temporarily, but it will not fix the underlying problems.
You cannot treat cancer with palliative care alone. You have to identify the source of the cancer and deal with it.
The challenges facing Nigerian football are much deeper than the NFF alone.
If we genuinely want change, then we must examine the entire football ecosystem and ask difficult but necessary questions:
1. Who is responsible for policy?
2. Who controls and releases the funding?
3. Who provides oversight?
4. Who is responsible for infrastructure and grassroots development?
5. Who is accountable for the development pathways for our young players?
6. Who is responsible for the overall sports development strategy of the country?
7. And, most importantly, who has failed to do what they were entrusted to do?
Those are the questions we should be asking.
Let us not create scapegoats out of individuals who may themselves be operating within a much larger and dysfunctional system.
Nigerian football does not need another cycle of outrage, blame, forced resignations and cosmetic solutions. It needs structural reform, institutional accountability, competent leadership, sustainable investment and a clear long-term development strategy.
The NFF should be held accountable where it has failed. No institution should be above scrutiny.
But accountability is not the same thing as scapegoating.
If we truly want to save Nigerian football, let us treat the disease—not merely the symptoms.
Nigeria football deserves better than a scapegoat. It deserves a complete overhaul of the system.
Authored by:
ESV Ayodele Thomas, MNIVS, FIMBL, CeMAP
CEO, TopPro Management
