Sports
CHRISTIAN Emeruwa, a presidential candidate in the upcoming Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) election, on Thursday said the quality of the Nigerian football league was not good for television telecast.
Emeruwa stated this at the presidential debate organised by the FCT chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) in Abuja.
He said that for the league to be good enough for television telecast, the quality must be upgraded to compete with other leagues globally.
The presidential election candidate said a league where the selection of match officials was based on sentiments and not performance would not produce a good result.
The candidate also said, if elected as the NFF president, he would work with experts to train Football Association (FA) secretaries to embrace computerised system of administration.
“If elected the president of NFF, I will change the entire football administration from analogue to computerised system,” he said.
Emeruwa said if elected his administration would come up with a policy to check the involvement of officials of the federation in player management.
He added that he would put in place institutions that would outlive his administration in order to gain the confidence of would-be sponsors.
“There is need to build strong institutions that will outlive every administration of the NFF,” the candidate said.
“Sponsors will always consider the structures before thinking of putting in money into the system,“ he added.
Emeruwa said also that no sponsor would invest in the sport without seeing the programme of the federation.
He further said Nigeria presently has a deficit of certified football coaches as none has been certified for a very long time.
“I will facilitate more coaches programmes so that the country will have more coaches for our football,” Emeruwa said.
Also speaking at the debate, another candidate, Abba Mukhtar, said if elected president he would exploit the grassroots to strengthen the sport in the country.
Mukhtar, who is the Chairman of FCT Football Association, said he would also encourage the establishment of football academies across the country to boost talents.
“The younger generation will be my focus. We only follow players who are playing in top leagues and with this our football cannot develop,” he said.
The FCT FA Chairman said over-reliance on foreign-based players was destroying the country’s football, adding that there was a need to develop local talents.
In a remark, Chairman of the FCT Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Emmanuel Ogbeche, urged delegates at the upcoming NFF elections to vote wisely.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sept. 30 has been fixed for the NFF Elective Congress in Benin.
But an order of a Federal High Court in Abuja has since asked that the elections should not hold for now.(NAN)
A.I
Tags: Christian Emeruwa Emmanuel Ogbeche
