Former Nigeria coach Festus Adegboye Onigbinde has called for knowledgeable people to run for office as the Nigeria Football Federation elections come up later this month.
Citing the dearth of technocrats in the football industry as the bane for the country’s lack of progress in the sport, Onigbinde said that it is high time Nigeria got the best hands to run her football.
“A lot of so-called football administrators are into football because of what they can get from it, not for what they can put into it. Actually they have nothing to put into it,” Onigbinde told Goal.
“If you then come out to say you want to do the right thing you may also risk persecution and molestation which is another problem facing the administration of football in the country.”
The 72-year-old former Fifa adviser said that much of the success that the country has recorded in the game has been due to sheer talent despite the poor administrative standards.
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“Nigeria is greatly blessed with talents in football and the country could have ranked at least among the best five in the world if not for lack of good football administration.
“It is only in Nigeria that a carpenter is allowed to run sports and most especially football. What does a carpenter know about footballing business?
“The alarming thing and disgraceful thing is that we keep on repeating the same thing, we keep on making the same blunder day in, day out and we still expect our football to grow.
“The little success we have had in football was due to exceptional talents and skills of our players that have always put in their all to make Nigeria proud,” Onigbinde said.
Among those that have signified interest in contesting for office in the August 26 elections are Taiwo Ogunjobi, Kalu Uzor Orji and Mike Umeh among many others. (goal.com)
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