As it has become a ritual every four years, the hullabaloo that trailed the election into the board of the Nigeria Football Federation has come and gone. Ibrahim Musa Gusau, 58, is succeeding Amaju Melvin Pinnick as the 36th president of the NFF. Prior to his election, Gusau was the chairman of Zamfara State Football Association. But he is taking over at a time stakeholders are divided and unsure of the future of the country’s football.
Meanwhile, the country’s topflight league, the Nigerian Professional Football League has been comatose since the last season ended with no clear sign of when it will resume. In addition to these, debts in hundreds of millions of Naira owed hoteliers around the country and airlines are piling up. Same with debts to coaches and secretariat staff. Outstanding bonuses and allowances to players, some dating back several years, are also there to be settled.
Finally, this is not the time for blame game on what has caused the drop in the quality of Super Eagles. The rot started way back in 1998/99. All past sports ministers and the NFF boards have only glossed over the matter. Since the 1994 ‘golden generation’ faded out of circulation, no concerted efforts have been made to recreate that era. Constant hiring and firing of coaches have not helped our development.