Sports
Ex-Lawmaker Wants NFF To Manage Eagles’ Success
A former House of Representatives member, Hon. Lumumba Adeh, says sustaining Nigeria’s upward movement in world football depended largely on how the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) manages recent successes.
He told Tidesports over the weekend in Abuja that NFF needed to be able to stand firm on issues particularly related to the Super Eagles.
Adeh listed the issues to include those of appointing a Technical Director as well as NFF’s relationship with Eagles’ head coach Stephen Keshi.
“Now, we can say that we are gradually getting there and that puts us in a good position to now aspire to out-do Egypt, Cameroon and Ghana and take our rightful place in African football.
“But the issue now is that we should be able to manage the present success, and fears will be whether our football managers can really sustain the pace,’’ he said.
Adeh noted that it was natural for fears to be entertained about whether the NFF could manage the success as the AFCON victory was not a result of its managerial acumen.
“I think it was through God’s intervention. Clearly, there was the hand of God in the entire arrangement. First, from the fixtures, and then down to the eventual progress of the team to the quarter-finals
“If one looks at our preparations and programmes, you will agree with me that it was not as a result of any deliberate planning or organisation that we got where we are now.
“I remember Keshi saying he needed time to take them where they are going,’’ the proprietor of JC Raiders of Jos said.
Adeh noted that, as an outcome of the AFCON 2013 victory, a lot of issues and controversies have arisen in relation to certain events or incidences during and after the tournament.
“If not properly managed, I am afraid, it is going to affect whatever gains Nigeria has made as a result of this victory.
“I was not in South Africa to know exactly what happened, but the steps the NFF were accused of having taken in the course of the competition, particularly in the preliminary round, may not have been right.
“It may for now be a normal way of making a coach sit up. But I want to take us back to the fact that this has been the style and character of the NFF and Nigerians have always been falling for it.
“We have always said it in times past that it is not at every outing that a national team or any club goes for that the coach gets sacked after a failure to win.
“But a coach that goes there and failed should be assessed to determine the kind of failure. If you allow him to remain in the system, it adds value to the system for subsequent benefits,’’ he said.
The former Vice-Chairman of the 2005 Interim Management Committee of the then Nigeria Football League (NFL) said the NFA was in the habit of diverting attention.
“The NFF has always been misleading football followers to believe that every failure is the fault of the coach and many people have never asked questions.
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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