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.
Hon Dike who spoke with sports journalists shortly after the flag off the 2024 edition of Chairman’s Football Unity Tournament at Botem Tai in Tai LGA, said the tournament is an annual event to promote peace and unity in Tai as well identify budding talents in the area for global competition.
The opening ceremony of the tournament was more like a carnival was witnessed by huge crowd including prominent indigenes of Ogoni Kingdom, sports lovers and people from all works of life.
The LGA boss revealed that special sports committee will be setup in the area to work out modalities to strengthen sports development in Tai.
He advised the participants in the tournament from various wards in the LGA to play the game by the rules and conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner and use the opportunity to showcase their talents.
Hon Dike further disclosed that his administration will also give priority attention to skills development among the youth to enhance their human capacity and promote enterprise development in the area.
Earlier in his address the Chairman of Tai LGA Football Council, Elder Wisdom Gorgor said the annual football competition has been a unifying factor in Tai LGA that need to be sustained to forge more unity and development in the area.
He urged the participants to see the competition as an opportunity to embrace football as a full career and earn sustainable livelihood.
Elder Gorgor who commended the Chairman of Tai LGA, Hon Dike for his visionary leadership and tremendous development achievements recorded in the LGA under his administration, appealled to the Chairman to build a Mini Sports Stadium in the area to promote sporting activities.
The training was held at the Sani Abacha Stadium Indoor Basketball Court in Kano last Saturday.
According to the Vice President and Head of NBA Nigeria, Gbemisola Abudu, the event was part of the league’s commitment to growing broader basketball ecosystem in Nigeria and making the game more accessible across the country.
“Our first Jr. NBA clinic in Kano speaks to our commitment to growing the game in Nigeria and creating more opportunities for boys and girls to learn and play the game,” Abudu said.
“Nigeria has a rich basketball history and abundance of talent, which is evident every time you watch an NBA game. We look forward to continuing to engage with basketball stakeholders, business leaders and members of the community to further the game’s reach and impact on young people around the country,” she added.
The 2024 basketball initiative clinics of NBA Nigeria also included the league’s inaugural Jr. NBA elite camp for 150 boys and age-16 girls held at the American International School in Lagos in July.
Others include the NBA’s building of 1,000 courts in Africa over the next decade, Nigeria’s Festival Coins and Salubata named the top two winning businesses at NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator’s inaugural Demo Day in New York City held last September, and the third edition of “NBA Meets Art,” a curated installation celebrating basketball through the lens of Nigerian art and culture as part of West Africa’s premier art fair Art X Lagos, held in November.
Central to this vision is the federation’s investment in capacity building, evident in the just-concluded one-week Level 1 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Coaching Course, which marked a significant milestone for Nigerian badminton.
Held in Abuja, the course brought together 13 young coaches from across Nigeria. The last time such a course was held in the country was in 2017, making this a historic and transformative step.
The training was facilitated by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) in partnership with the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) and conducted by Dr. Ahmed Radah, the BCA Development Manager.
Radah, impressed by the talent he witnessed, praised Nigeria’s potential.
“Nigeria is blessed with immense talent and a strong badminton tradition. I believe this country has what it takes to dominate on the global stage,” he remarked.
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