President Bola Tinubu has directed a comprehensive reform of Nigerian football following the latest shake-up in the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
According to him, the move became necessary to overcome repeated failures to qualify for major regional, continental and world tournaments.
“The reform must respond to a longstanding need to strengthen governance, administration, stakeholder representation, development pathways, domestic competitions and accountability across Nigerian football,” Tinubu was quoted as saying.
Tinubu said that while other sports had recorded meaningful progress since the reset of the sports sector under the re-established National Sports Commission (NSC), football has continued to struggle because of structural weaknesses within the system.
“Football, Nigeria’s most popular sport and the greatest beneficiary of public support, investment and national attention, has continued to struggle basically due to structural deficits within the system,” he said.
The president stressed that Nigerian football must begin to match the country’s exceptional talent, passion and resources with stronger institutions and sustained performance.
The former Governor of Lagos State directed the Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, to work with the NFF Secretariat and relevant football stakeholders to ensure continuity in essential football administration and facilitate a broad, consultative reform process.