LAGOS – Folorunsho Okenla, a former Super Eagles winger, on Tuesday described the current state of football development in the nation as “not too encouraging’’.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Okenla, who won a Silver medal with the Eagles at the 1988 edition of the AFCON in Morocco, spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.
He said that the entire football business was not done the way it should be done and that “if we want a change we have to do things that will make it to that level.
“We look for players outside Nigeria which should not be so; there should be home based players as well as international players.
“Football is a business that should be run and managed by experienced hands and as such we need to think outside the box to generate resources to be able to do the right thing,’’ he said.
On the absence of the Super Eagles in the ongoing African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Equatorial Guinea, Okenla said that it was impacting negatively on the nation’s football.
He said Nigerians were definitely not happy with the absence of the Eagles at the tournament.
“This has a negative impact on our soccer development and the nation’s economy at large,” he said.
On the issue of grassroots football development, Okenla said that the Nigeria Federation Association (NFA) could do better in the development of the sport.
He, however, called on state and Federal Government to do more in the development of football.
“I believe that if we do put a very clear development programme in the area of football, we would raise one of the best teams in the world not just in Africa”, he said. (NAN)