By: Musa Gidado (Kebbi State)
Nigeria’s recurring disappointments in FIFA, CAF and other international football competitions should not be blamed solely on players, coaches or the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). There is an increasingly important institutional question that Nigerians must begin to ask:
Is the growing involvement of the National Sports Commission (NSC) in the affairs of the national football teams helping the teams or creating unnecessary distractions?
Football is a specialised business with its own structures, regulations and international obligations. In Nigeria, the NFF is the statutory body responsible for the administration and development of football. Its responsibilities include the management of the national teams and the coordination of Nigeria’s participation in international football competitions.
The NSC, as the government’s sports administration body, has an important role to play in sports development, policy formulation, infrastructure and general sports administration. Most importantly, the NSC is expected to make financial provisions for the training, camping of national teams before every tournament. But there must be a clear line between government oversight and the direct administration of football matters. How will an institution that did not provide logistics for NFF to prepare the national teams start promising players money at the middle of the competition?
Why would the NSC be interested in travelling with the teams taking photographs with players distracting and placing huge pressure on the players and officials?
Let the NFF Do Its Job
One of the fundamental principles of football administration globally is the autonomy of football associations.
When national teams are preparing for major FIFA or CAF competitions, the priority should be simple: maximum concentration, proper preparation and a professional working environment for players and technical officials.
The national team camp should not become a political or administrative theatre where officials compete for visibility, photographs and public recognition.
When senior sports administrators travel with national teams, attend training sessions, appear around players and officials and become heavily involved in camp activities, legitimate questions can be raised about whether such presence enhances performance or inadvertently creates distractions or intense pressure on the players and their technical staff.
A national team preparing for a crucial match needs concentration. Players need rest.Coaches need tactical meetings. Technical officials need uninterrupted planning.
Team administrators need to handle logistics.
The last thing anybody should want is unnecessary traffic around the team.
*Football Is Not About Who Takes the Most Pictures*
There is nothing wrong with government officials supporting national teams. Indeed, government has a legitimate responsibility to support Nigerian athletes and teams.
But support should be measured by what happens behind the scenes, not by the number of photographs taken with players.
Nigerians do not need officials to merely appear beside the Super Eagles, Super Falcons, Golden Eaglets, Flying Eagles or other national teams.
They need results.
They need proper preparation.They need quality training facilities.They need prompt payment of entitlements.They need efficient logistics.
They need adequate bonuses and welfare packages.
And they need an environment in which coaches and players can concentrate entirely on representing Nigeria.
*Who Should Pay the Players and Officials?*
Another issue deserving serious attention is the administration of financial incentives, bonuses, gifts and other payments to national-team players and officials.
There should be a transparent and clearly defined system.
Where the NFF is responsible for the administration of a particular national team, players and officials should receive their approved entitlements through the appropriate football administration structure, with proper documentation and accountability.
There should be no confusion over who is responsible for what.
If government wants to reward a team, such support should also pass through a transparent institutional mechanism rather than creating multiple centres of influence around the players.
The objective should be welfare, accountability and motivation and not publicity or political ownership of the team.
Are Taxpayers Getting Value for Money?
There is also a legitimate question about expenditure.
Nigeria is facing enormous economic pressures. Every naira spent by government must therefore be subjected to the basic test of value for money.
When large delegations of officials travel with national teams, Nigerians deserve to know:
Who is travelling?
Why are they travelling?
What is the official purpose of the trip?
What is the cost to the taxpayer?
What measurable benefit does the trip provide to the team? Why not just the players and officials while administrators can join such team towards the end of such competition for institutional boundaries of government responsibilities.
This is not an attack on individuals. It is a question of public accountability. If limited public resources can instead be deployed towards training camps, quality accommodation, player welfare, bonuses, medical support, logistics, scouting and football development, then government must seriously examine whether every official trip is necessary.
*NSC Should Support, Not Supplant the NFF*
The answer is not to create a war between the NSC and the NFF.
Nigeria needs both institutions.
But Nigeria also needs clearly defined responsibilities.
The NSC should provide policy direction, government support and broader sports development.
The NFF should be allowed to administer football professionally within the framework of FIFA, CAF and Nigerian law.
The two institutions should collaborate, but collaboration must not become usurpation.
There is a huge difference between supporting the NFF and taking over functions that properly belong to the football federation.
*Our National Teams Deserve a Professional Environment*
Whenever Nigeria fails at a FIFA or CAF competition, the immediate reaction is usually to blame the coach. If the coach survives, attention shifts to the players.Then, administrators are blamed. But perhaps we need to look deeper.
What kind of environment are we creating around our national teams?
Are we preparing them professionally?
Are we giving coaches sufficient autonomy?
Are players receiving their entitlements on time? Are camps free from unnecessary visitors and distractions?
Are officials spending taxpayers’ money responsibly?
Are the institutions responsible for football being allowed to perform their statutory responsibilities?
These questions deserve honest answers.
Nigeria has immense football talents. Our players continue to excel around the world. Our female teams remain among Africa’s strongest. Our youth teams have historically produced exceptional talent. If the talent is there, then the system must be examined whenever results consistently fall below expectations.
*Enough of Institutional Competition*
The national team should not become a platform for institutional competition. It should not matter who receives the applause.It should not matter whose photograph appears beside the players. It should not matter who makes the headlines.
What should matter is Nigeria winning.
The Super Eagles, Super Falcons and other national teams belong to Nigeria. They should be protected from unnecessary interference, political grandstanding and bureaucratic rivalry.
The NFF must be held accountable for its responsibilities, but it must also be given the space to perform those responsibilities.
Likewise, the NSC must be held accountable for its own responsibilities.
Nigeria does not need two institutions attempting to run one football team.
Nigeria needs one clear football administration, one professional chain of command, proper accountability and one overriding objective: putting the national teams in the best possible position to win.
The time has come for the NSC and NFF to sit down, define their boundaries and establish a professional framework for cooperation.Because when Nigeria loses, it is not the NSC that loses or the NFF that loses ,it is Nigeria that loses.And the Nigerian taxpayer deserves better than wasted resources, institutional confusion and avoidable distractions.
Let the NFF handle football. Let the NSC strengthen sports. Let government provide support. Let the players play. Let the coaches coach. And, above all, let Nigeria win.
God bless President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
God bless Nigeria 🇳🇬
