Stakeholders in the country’s football have agreed to appoint a normalisation committee to oversee the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for a period of not more than one year, sources at the NFF have disclosed.

A CAF/FIFA delegation met with stakeholders in the game on Monday and Tuesday to find ways of settling the crisis in the country’s football.
One of the sources, who participated in the meetings with the CAF/FIFA delegates, told The Guardian that the consensus was to appoint a normalisation committee to midwife a new federation that will be acceptable to all the stakeholders.

He said: “The first batch of the FIFA delegation left Nigeria on Tuesday, while the remaining officials are expected to leave today (Wednesday) after inspecting the FIFA projects, including the Goal Project and the hostel under construction in Abuja.

“The composition of the Normalisation Committee would become clearer on Friday, but I can tell you that almost all the stakeholders are on the same page. They want the best for Nigerian football.”

The CAF/FIFA delegations were in the country to mediate in the crisis that followed the mass resignation of the NFF board, including its former president, Ibrahim Gusau and the secretary general, Mohammed Sanusi.

The international mission held emergency talks and met with NFF management, state FA chairmen, and congress members in Abuja.

During the meetings with stakeholders, there were disagreements on how to address the vacuum in the NFF leadership. Specifically, there were disputes over whether to institute a normalisation committee or go for a caretaker arrangement, and whether leadership should come from internal or external appointments.

These and some other issues, according to an NFF insider, were settled with the stakeholders agreeing to abide by whatever decision would help to reposition the country’s football.

“The normalisation committee will decide when to hold the NFF’s election after putting the house in order,” the source said.