National Sports Commission (NSC) Chairman, Shehu Dikko, and two officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) left Abuja yesterday for Zurich to meet with top officials of the world Football governing body, FIFA. The meeting will hold today.
 
In the delegation are NFF’s Acting Secretary General, Emmanuel Ikpeme and an official from the legal unit, Okey Obi.
 
The Guardian learnt yesterday that the visit by the trio is to brief top officials of the football governing body on recent happenings in Nigerian football.
 
“Their visit is to officially brief FIFA on the resignation of former NFF President Ibrahim Gusau, former Secretary General Mohammed Sanusi and all board members of the NFF. The meeting with FIFA will hold on Tuesday,” a reliable source informed.
 
Meanwhile, United States-based former Green Eagles player, now president of the Nigerian Ex-International Footballers Association (NE-IFA), Francis Monidafe, has said that the nation’s former internationals living in the diaspora are prepared to become active participants in discussions surrounding the rebuilding and development of Nigerian football.
 
According to Monidafe, the knowledge, experience and perspectives of former Nigerian internationals living abroad have too often remained on the margins of important conversations concerning the country’s football. He believes that should begin to change.
 
Monidafe’s comments come at a significant moment for Nigerian football, following the announcement of a three-year, $7.5 million title sponsorship agreement between the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) and EUROMATCH, as well as the resignation of Ibrahim Gusau as president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
 
For Monidafe, the developments offer both reasons for encouragement and an opportunity for Nigerian football to reconsider the direction of its leadership and governance.  He welcomed the commercial breakthrough achieved under the immediate past NPFL Chairman Gbenga Elegbeleye for what he described as “his big catch.”
 
He said: “The $7.5 million deal is what the Nigerian league needs to help move it forward and get us where we need to be in Africa and, indeed, the world,” he said in his message conveyed by another ex-international player, Paul Okoku, at the weekend.
 
The agreement, formally unveiled in Abuja on August 26, is worth $2.5 million per season over three years.
 
According to Monidafe, developments that strengthen the domestic league financially should be welcomed because a stronger professional competition is essential to the overall development of Nigerian football.
 
He also believes that commercial progress should eventually be reflected in the professional environment and welfare of the players whose performances sustain the league.
 
Monidafe welcomed Gusau’s decision to leave the NFF presidency, but said Nigerians should use the moment to examine the system through which its leaders emerge and determine whether the existing structure adequately provides opportunities for qualified people from different constituencies within the game.
 
“The best news coming out of the NFA office in a long time is the news that the chairman threw in the towel,” he said. “He did the right thing, and we thank him for his service.”
  
He cautioned that the focus should extend beyond who occupies the next leadership positions to the fairness, openness and credibility of the process through which those leaders emerge.