Sports
‘Nigeria Can Excel Internationally With Adequate Support’
Nigeria has all it takes to excel in football and to become the best on the African continent.
The Coordinator, Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Club Secretaries Forum, Mr Chibuzor Nwogu, said this in an interview newsman on Monday in Abuja.
According to him, all we need to do is to bring all our potential to bear, and to create an enabling environment for football to thrive.
He noted that though, much was being done to improve the sport in the country, a lot still needed to be done for Nigeria to get it right.
“We have great potential in football, there are budding talents all across the country, we need to deploy our resources toward making sure we bring them on board,’’ Nwogu said.
Nwogu, who is also the secretary of Enyimba FC, said that there was the need for all hands to be on deck to ensure Nigeria became a country to reckon with in terms of football.
Speaking on Enyimba Football Club’s performance in the league season, he said that the club did not really play many matches due to the activities of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
Nwogu, however, said that the club had achieved a lot, adding that the management of the club was putting measures in place to ensure the club excelled in the NPFL.
Commenting on the sack of former Head Coach of Enyimba FC, Usman Abdallah, he said that the management of the club felt he had been managing the club for a long time and there was the need to inject “fresh blood with new ideas’’ into the club.
According to him, Abdallah is a good coach any time, any day but has to move on to more adventurous ventures and he is doing well in his present assignment.
Tidesports source gathered that Abdallah was sacked after the club’s 0-4 loss to Plateau United on January. 3.
According to the management of the FC, after disappointing results, the club decided to remove the Head Coach Abdallah in order for it to regain its lost glory.
On the maiden edition of the NPFL Club Secretaries Forum Annual General Meeting/Awards, Nwogu noted that it was aimed at bringing together stakeholders in the sector to contribute and exchange ideas on how to move football forward.
He said that it was also to recognise and give awards to some governors and stakeholders who have contributed immensely to the development of sports in Nigeria.
The Enyimba FC secretary listed the governors to include Nyesome Wike of Rivers, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta, Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom, Simon Lalong of Plateau and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia.
Other stakeholders he said are Sunday Dare, the minister of Sports, the President of the Nigeria Football Association (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, the General Secretary, NFF Dr Sanusi Mohammed, and the Chairman, League Management Compqny (LMC), Shehu Dikko among others.
Tidesports reports that the event which opened yesterday will end tomorrow.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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