By Jacob Ajom
Adokiye
A former Nigeria international, Adokiye Amiesimaka has advised Nigeria on how to navigate the thin line between legitimate state oversight and “third-party interference” to avoid sanctions from the world football governing body FIFA as the country is seeking ways to reposition her football.
Adokiye said, “people keep dropping the name of FIFA for selfish reasons,” wondering why Nigerians continue to allow themselves to be fooled by a few. “We are just a bunch of clowns. It is not because of lack of knowledge or lack of expertise we have just refused to do the right thing. People are trying to take undue advantage of other people for personal gains.”
He went down memory lane, “Lord Lugard said it about a century ago that Africans have a predilection to seek authority, without accepting the fact that authority comes with responsibility.
“Not that we don’t know the right thing to do, but we just allow charlatans and clowns to occupy high positions of authority at our own
The so called FIFA will ban us, FIFA will ban us is all balderdash. I wrote so many times about it in my column, which I stopped about ten years ago. FIFA has no business on how a country sets up its football federation.
Look at the NFA Act. The first sentence states that the NFA is a private organisation; which is a lie because NFA or is it NFF is the only sports association that is a parastatal affiliated to the Sports Ministry.
We all know it. Even the press know it but they keep quiet. FIFA is not against government getting involved in the country’s FA. Government can be part of the board of the NFF as a stakeholder. It has to be on the board and participate in all the board’s decisions. From within the board, government can influence anything
“Read FIFA Statute. It does not abhor government’s involvement in football. You know when a country wants to host a major international event, FIFA seeks government’s backing to grant the hosting rights. At the last World Cup, you could recall the way FIFA and the American government were interfacing.
What FIFA does not approve of is government staying in the background and dishing out orders. Not government to stay in the background and be issuing orders to the board
