Editorial
Averting FIFA Hammer On Nigeria
Less than one month to the commencement of the 2018 World Cup billed for Russia, Nigeria’s football is at the risk of being ostracized from the rest of the world. This, if allowed to happen, would banish Nigeria from participating not only in the forthcoming World Cup in Russia but in all international, including continental, football competitions, both competitive and friendly.
The threat is as a result of the recent Supreme Court’s decision setting aside the judgment of the Appeal Court and asking the Jos High Court to re-open and hear the case brought to it by one Chris Giwa against the emergence of the Amaju Pinnick led Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board. That such a football matter, especially concerning the election of the leadership of a country’s football federation is made a matter for litigation in the regular courts is considered an infraction by the world football governing body, Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA).
Giwa and his co-travellers had gone to the Jos High Court to contest the emergence of Pinnick and his board members in an NFF Congress in Warri in 2014 and got some relief that threatened the validity of the election. However, an Appeal Court’s judgment, which the Supreme Court has now set aside, later threw out the case for lack of jurisdiction.
We are, indeed, worried by the unfolding drama. Our concern stems from the fact that FIFA has viewed the latest development as an infringement and warned that it would not issue any other warning before sanctioning Nigeria if it feels that there has been a breach of its statute, which particularly frowns at external political interference in football matters.
FIFA and football have extant laws and processes of resolving issues, particularly disagreements arising from elections and expect every stakeholder to tow the line without let.
The Tide thinks that at a time like this, especially in the face of improving stock of football in Nigeria, all true stakeholders should be concerned with how to take the game to the next level instead of working at cross purposes. We believe that at all times, national interest should be paramount and be promoted rather than personal and parochial interest.
This is why we expect Chris Giwa and his supporters to have, ab initio, known the right steps and channel to take to seek redress or settle any misgiving. However, it is not too late to avoid FIFA’s hammer. We therefore, appeal to the warring parties, their supporters and sympathizers to sheath their sword so that the game can move forward.
Leadership should be a call to service and not a matter of life and death. Also, the spirit of sportsmanship should not only be a maxim but a demonstrable value by those seeking to steer the ship of sporting institutions in our country.
We think that the Amaju Pinnick led board of the NFF, whose tenure will elapse in a couple of months, has recorded some bold achievements so far, as the nation’s football seems to be on the part of improvement. It should not hurt so much to choose the option of allowing the board to run its full course, avoid FIFA’s wrath and work for a fresh start in the next NFF’s elective congress in less than four months.
It is, indeed, time for Nigeria to join the committee of advanced sporting nations and offer the sports sector the environment it needs to thrive as well as free it of all the vestiges of interference. Moreso, the Federal Government should, as a matter of importance, begin the process of domesticating and aligning our judicial provisions to the dictates of FIFA statute as far as issues of football and its administration are concerned.
Since Nigeria has accepted to be part of the world football family, the country cannot be seen to observe its statute in the breach or give leeway to individuals to circumvent the statute and bring the country in conflict with the world football authority. It is either we belong to the body on the stipulated terms or opt out on our own volition.
Unfortunately, no country can confront FIFA on its own turf and not bat its eyelid first. Everything possible must, therefore, be done to ensure that Nigeria does not only fall in line with football’s best practices, but also becomes a FIFA friendly environment in order for the country to continue its march to the pinnacle of world’s relevance in football.
Football is a major lifewire and unifying factor in Nigeria and should not be allowed to be emasculated on the altar of desperation and selfishness of any individual or group.
The implication of a FIFA sanction on Nigeria at this time can only be imagined. The country may never recover fully from its far-reaching consequences. Thus, it will be easier and better to avoid the hammer coming down than to go an extra mile in attempt to pick the pieces afterwards.
There are moments in the life of a legislature when plain speaking becomes a public service. Senator Adams Oshiomhole provided such a moment on the floor of the Senate when he accused the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, of manifestly neglecting critical federal arteries in Edo and Delta States, and implored his colleagues to prevail on the Minister to adopt a more equitable and genuinely national approach to road infrastructure delivery. It was blunt, it was uncomfortable, and it was necessary.
The specifics of his complaint deserve restating. Drawing attention to the recent approval of some 20 new road projects despite the parlous state of existing ones, the former Edo State governor lamented that Nigerians cannot travel from Benin to Warri, Benin to Asaba, Benin to Auchi, or Auchi to Okene without encountering severe distress. He alleged a deliberate omission of these corridors from the national budget in the last three years, save for palliative interventions directed by President Bola Tinubu through tax credit arrangements. His question — “What have we done wrong?” — resonates far beyond the chambers of the National Assembly.
We lend our full and unequivocal support to that call. The Auchi-Benin Road, for instance, has been in a deplorable and near-impassable condition for several years, turning what should be a two-hour journey into an all-day ordeal of broken axles, extortionate fares, and despondent commuters. The media have, on multiple occasions, chronicled the suffering of motorists, traders, and students who ply that route. To describe it as a federal road today is to stretch the meaning of the term beyond recognition.
This pattern of sidelining is not confined to Edo or Delta. Even here in Rivers State, the disposition of the Federal Ministry of Works has left much to be desired, particularly along the Eleme axis of the East-West Road. That road, which ought to be a flagship of federal presence in the Niger Delta, has remained in a wretched state for long. Those who use it daily — workers at the Eleme Petrochemical Complex, the two refineries, Onne Port, and the countless ancillary industries — can attest to its deterioration. Work has proceeded in fits and starts without the sustained urgency such a strategic road demands.
The Eleme stretch is not a mere intra-state byway. It is the gateway to the nation’s economic jugular. According to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing’s 2023 Highway Condition Survey, only about 35 per cent of the country’s 36,000 kilometres of federal roads are rated as being in good or fair condition, with the remainder classified as poor or very poor. The East-West Road, conceived in the 1970s to bind the entire Niger Delta, remains unfinished in critical sections more than four decades after. If it had been treated as a priority, the perennial gridlock, carnage, and economic loss on the Eleme-Refinery junction would have long been consigned to history.
The irony is as painful as it is glaring. The Niger Delta remains the goose that lays the golden eggs. Data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [NEITI 2023 Oil and Gas Audit] show that the region still accounts for over 78 per cent of Nigeria’s federally collected export earnings and about 65 per cent of total government revenue. The National Bureau of Statistics [NBS Foreign Trade Report Q4 2024] similarly confirms that crude oil continues to dominate export receipts. By every metric of equity and economic logic, a region that sustains the national purse deserves first-rate consideration in the allocation of infrastructure, not afterthoughts and tokenism.
Road infrastructure is not largesse to be dispensed by favour; it is the skeleton upon which commerce, cohesion, and citizenship hang. When contracts are concentrated in one geopolitical zone while other zones are left to contend with craters, it erodes trust in the federation itself. The World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update [June 2023] estimated that poor transport connectivity inflates the cost of moving goods by up to 40 per cent and costs the Nigerian economy an estimated $1.5 billion annually in lost man-hours and vehicle maintenance. If we profess to be one country, then equity must be the compass that guides key institutions before any project is executed. Development must spread round, not pool in one place as though other regions do not matter.
There is also a grave security dimension that can no longer be ignored. The deplorable condition of federal roads has become a veritable enabler of criminality. The NBS Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey reported over 2.5 million incidents of kidnapping-related occurrences nationally, with transport workers identifying bad road spots as prime ambush points. When vehicles are forced to crawl at 10 kilometres per hour through failed sections at Auchi, Sapele Road, or Eleme, they become sitting ducks for armed gangs. Fixing bad roads, therefore, is not merely about convenience; it is about safeguarding lives.
By his intervention, Senator Oshiomhole has hit the nail on the head and reminded Minister Umahi of a fundamental constitutional truth: public office is held in trust. The Ministry of Works is not a personal estate where contracts are awarded according to whim or political convenience. It is a national institution funded by the collective resources of Nigerians, including the oil and gas rents from the very communities whose roads are now neglected. The Minister must demonstrate balance, transparency, and a pan-Nigerian outlook in the distribution of projects that impact the daily existence of citizens. Selective neglect breeds suspicion, and suspicion is corrosive at a time when the nation is preaching unity, oneness, equity, and justice.
Consequently, the National Assembly must go beyond rhetoric and assert its oversight powers with vigour. Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution [as amended] empower the legislature to investigate and expose any maladministration in the execution of federal projects. If an office holder is not acting rightly, it is the duty of the Senate and the House of Representatives to call him to order. Oversight must not be reduced to budget approval ceremonies; it must translate to field verification, public hearings, and insistence that the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in Section 14(3) of the Constitution, reflects in road awards.
Let the Auchi-Okene, Benin-Warri, Benin-Asaba, and Eleme East-West gangways be restored to motorable dignity. Let priority be given to completing existing, economically vital roads before embarking on new ones. If those who, through their resources, sustain the federation are sidelined in the distribution of tangible dividends, it tells poorly of our nationhood. Bad roads must be fixed, and they must be fixed now, with fairness as the guiding standard.
