Dear Amaju Pinnick…
“With great powers, comes great responsibilities”- Benjamin Parker (Uncle Ben)
I would like to congratulate you on your re-election as president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF); the first man to attain this feat in over 60 years. This is a noble profession you have received, one so rare in the recollection of our football history.
Your victory has set before you a humongous task of forging a defined course of progress - which you started, undoubtedly, while in your first term in office - in the growth and development of football in Nigeria (the U-13s and U-15s project a case in point). As you have already come to know, being the president of the body that governs the most loved sport in the country is an arduous task, one that may have glam to it but confers on the occupant of the seat, a burden that bears the interest of more than 190 million people.
I would like to call your attention to a few concerns that are not bereft of solutions as you get right to work immediately. Many may not know or remember when you became the first president ever, of any sport federation in Nigeria to deliver a speech at the Nigeria Bar Association Annual Conference in 2015. That occasion provided some in-road into the kind of man you are and what to expect from your time in office.
The next four years has to be definitive; there has to be greater focus to cause a paradigm shift in way football is administered and how football is played. Nothing can be left to chance. Nothing, absolutely nothing, should be left to the winds.
Here are some thoughts to share with you in moving Nigeria football forward, always.
National Football Database
Perhaps you are aware or maybe not; it’s critical to the operations of the Football Federation to establish a national football database.
The nation’s football remains in a quagmire if the federation cannot make plans with the use of data. Nigeria is such a large country in population and land mass. At this point in time in our football history, we do not have an actual figure, let alone estimates, of the number of football players - male and female - that are in the country. It’s a dangerous trend if we do not have, and cannot track and monitor the players trading in football.
Besides the players, how many academies, not affiliated to professional clubs, are operational across the country? How many are structured organisationally and require incentives to expand further? What stages of growth are these academies and what role can the NFF through its affiliations in the states play to get them integrated in a national football plan? The availability of these information can help the decision making of your administration while facilitating greater penetration for participation among young people.
A national football database will serve as a one-stop access point for the federation and industry stakeholders where the needed information provides data points such as which state(s) has a larger football population and whether or not the available infrastructure in such state(s) is adequate for development programmes.
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Growth of football leagues in Nigeria
Our football leagues need to grow. The urgency for growth would require what might be considered emergency protocols to facilitate a restructuring of the leagues. One such protocol might necessitate ambitious paradigms: have the current League Management Company as the organizing body for all the men’s football leagues, and establish a similar organization through licensing for the women’s football leagues.
Right now and heading into the future, radical changes are needed to move forward with the development of the leagues. The LMC since it commenced operation of the Nigeria Professional Football League since 2012-13, has created a stronger identity for the men’s elite league. The league body however, among several requirements, needs ambitious talents to direct the affairs of the NPFL while instituting sustainable reforms.
These institutional reforms include a review (overhaul where necessary) of the current NFF bill. The proposed bill should have a diluted imput from the government. It’s a dinosaur age to still have government taking a lead role in the organization of football let alone sports generally. Regulatory functions and compliance should remain the purview of government. The state has to be inclined towards the transformation of the football environment into a business industry and the leagues have an inclusive role to play in the determination of course of life.
Aiteo Cup is nowhere close to a national icon, yet. This needs better oversight
Women, market drivers
I was deliberate not to dwell so much on the women’s football league(s) in the previous sub-headline. It is noteworthy that given the cultural and social shift we continue to experience across the world, women are taking a central role in conversations that involves them.
The women’s league(s) need greater and dedicated attention similar to what has been organized for the men’s football league(s) - well, maybe not too soon, but we have to get them in the pathway for growth and success. The Nigeria Football Federation should take more interest in growing the league as women have made significant contribution to the successes of our national football six times more than their male counterparts - senior level - particularly on the continent.
Women have the numbers: in commercial terms, purchasing power and product diversity. The NFF should leverage on this to design and develop programmes that focuses on making the game more attractive to increase attendance as well as active participation. There are a few development programmes at school levels, that include girls such as the GTBank Principal’s Cup, a competition that shows what can be achieved when stability and sustainable are guaranteed.
Conclusively, the age-grade programmes that commenced in the first term of your tenure should be sustained and institutionalized. Private initiatives with focus on youth football and have attained certain pre-conditions, should be integrated into the federation’s plan. There has to be a central coordination that assesses what private players are doing in their own spaces and how they connect to what you have ongoing.
You do not want to risk a haphazard approach to the programmes you have planned for implementation: data will be an underlying solution to these considerations. Integrity services that eradicate age cheat; a holistic view of who are football fans in the country and what they need; how you can pragmatically track the progress of your properties across digital, commercial optimization, marketing and on-field performance.
Your time to make history beyond a re-election victory, to emerge as the man who led the revolution on how football business is done in Nigeria, is now.
