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Finally,
the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had the good sense to do what it
ought to have done at the beginning. We read on Thursday that it had
taken over the welfare of the U-23 team, which had camped in Benin for
some time now.

The story goes that
the team handled by Austin Eguavoen, had been going through a hard time
following the abandonment of the team by the Edo State Government,
which had undertaken to be responsible for their welfare. According to
the report, the shabby treatment meted to the team had necessitated
their change of accommodation to a less than befitting place.

Emmanuel Ikpeme,
NFF deputy general secretary (Technical), who was in Benin to see
players and officials in Benin, said the poor treatment of the team
arose as a result of the Edo State Government’s preoccupation with the
just concluded elections.

“I just returned
from the team’s camp on Sunday after holding a very important meeting
with the technical crew and management. I think the issue has been
settled and the federation has taken full charge of the team’s welfare
since the government of Edo State could not continue with its earlier
agreement to take care of the team in Benin,” Ikpeme said.

I suppose the NFF
expects a pat on the back for doing this. Well, they shouldn’t. If
anything they deserve censure for making an exhibition of themselves in
the first place.

For some years now,
the football federation has been going round the country cap in hand
like a beggar begging states to foot the bills of our national teams
engaged in one competition or the other. This reason for this has been
because given the credibility deficit in the federation; no decent
organisation has been willing to do business with it.

With a marketing
department that exists only in name and a marketing consultant content
to idle away, only to show up asking for its ‘cut’ when a sponsor turns
up seeking to do business with the NFF, the football federation, has
always found itself in a bind financially.

Not that it should
be so anyway, because a lot of things still need to be explained to
Nigerians about exactly what the NFF has been doing with funds it gets
from the federal government, FIFA and its sponsorship deals with the
companies that have kitted the national teams in the past.

If a former
president of the federation and two other high ranking members of his
executive committee find themselves on trial for misappropriation of
funds, does that not say something about the way business has been
conducted at the football house all these years?

Of journeyman and jesters

I have often said
it that the vast majority of the men who run football in Nigeria have
no business anywhere near the glass house and I repeat it here again.

When before the
August 26, 2010 elections, some sycophants looking for a foothold on
the slippery glass house took pot-shots at some of the former Nigerian
internationals interested in getting into the federation declaring that
their having played the game was no guarantee that they would make good
administrators, I had shaken my head in amusement.

The reason was
because I had taken a good look at the men who were vying for positions
into the board and had only seen about two people that inspired my
confidence; the rest were just journeymen looking for a huge jackpot in
the casino that the NFF has become.

Now, these men are
there and the NFF with football, a game that keeps the adrenalin of the
average Nigerian, regardless of age, tribe or creed, pumping and they
cannot market it well enough to raise funds. Instead, the leadership of
the federation is genuflecting before every state governor, begging for
handouts.

If the men at the
NFF had any sense, how could they expect Adams Oshiomhole, a man whose
party was seeking to improve on its fortunes at the national level, to
distract himself with a U-23 team engaged in Olympic Games (not World
Cup) qualifiers?

Again, if their
marketing consultant, who so happens to come from Edo State, cannot
prevail on his governor to look in the direction of the team, is it any
wonder why the NFF has been lagging behind in marketing matters?

The leadership of the NFF should stop embarrassing the country
before the world by finding ways of funding its activities. Football
has a lot of goodwill in this country; they should exploit it and not
keep rolling on the floor like court jesters seeking to ingratiate
themselves with royalty.