• Akinbimu advocates total reform in football administration

Former national team captain, Sylvanus Okpala, believes the move to sanitise the country’s football is a step in the right direction. ee has, however cautioned the Federal Government on the composition of the proposed normalisation committee to ensure thorough cleansing of the system.

Specifically, Okpala, who was in the late Stephen Keshi-led technical crew that won Nigeria’s last Africa Cup of Nations title in 2013, is clamouring for the inclusion of former Green Eagles stars, Segun Odegbami and Adokiye Amiesimaka in the proposed Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Normalisation Committee.

He said in a statement to The Guardian, yesterday, “My opinion without being sentimental is that Segun Odegbami and Adokiye Amiesiaka should be in that committee, if Nigeria wants to make serious progress to the highest level of World Football. This is my candid opinion.”

Okpala said that the calibre of people in the committee will determine its success, adding that the Federal Government must look for “well-heeled,” selfless individuals to birth an effective football federation.

Also speaking on the ills of Nigerian football, a former board member of the Ondo Football Association, Dr Babatunde Akinbimu, said that beyond the move to sanitise the NFF, attention should also be paid to the foundation of the country’s football.

He said: “If we genuinely want to reform Nigerian football, we must look more closely at how football is administered at the state and local council levels. The structure beneath the NFF matters greatly because it is from these lower levels that much of the national football leadership eventually emerges.”

Akinbimu said that the 37 state football association chairmen, including the FCT, form a very important voting bloc within the NFF Congress, which means that the quality of leadership the country eventually gets at the national level is strongly influenced by the people and structures that produce leadership within the states.

He added: “The real question, therefore, should be how open, competitive and accountable our football structures are at the grassroots. If the system at the state and local council levels is weak, closed or easily manipulated, it will inevitably affect what happens at the national level.

“When access is too restricted, football administration becomes easier to capture by individuals who have the money, influence or connections to control the process. Some then remain within the system for many years without any clear requirement to show what they have actually contributed to football development. We should therefore be asking whether there are functional local leagues, whether young players are being discovered and developed, whether schools and communities are involved, and whether football infrastructure has improved.

“We should also ask whether private investors are being attracted and whether women are being given a fair opportunity to participate in football administration. These should be important considerations when people seek higher positions within the football system.”

He also wants a scrutiny of the composition and voting rights within the NFF Congress, saying, “where several leading men’s clubs are given voting representation while women’s football receives significantly less representation, we should ask whether such an arrangement reflects the kind of football system we want to build. Representation should not merely preserve existing power structures; it should also encourage balanced and sustainable development of the game. Women’s football has grown significantly in Nigeria and deserves a governance structure that properly reflects its importance.”