NFF President inaugurates investigative panel on Nigeria’s World Cup failures

By Amaechi Agbo

President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, MON on Monday inaugurated the Federation’s newly-composed Fact-finding Committee on Nigeria Football Setbacks, urging the members to do a thorough job with sincerity of purpose and diligence.

Following the senior women national team, Super Falcons’ failure to qualify for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup finals, the NFF had on Friday last week set up a Fact-finding Committee to unravel the root cause of Nigeria’s dismal showing in international competitions of recent, with specific reference to the Falcons’ ouster.

Gusau said: “You are to probe into the direct and remote causes of the poor outings of the National Teams in recent times, but with specific reference to the unexpected failure of the Super Falcons to qualify for the World Cup. You will have two weeks to do the job and submit your report.

“We have composed this committee believing that you will come up with solutions to the present malaise, having played crucial roles in the Nigeria game in one way or the other for a very long time.”

The Chairman of the committee, Ambassador Fanny Ikhayere Amun, MON pledged that his committee will do its job with a high sense of responsibility, and speak to persons connected with the issues at hand, while entertaining memoranda from concerned members of the public.

“We see this as a call to a very important national duty. It is not something that can be approached half-hearted; we have to immerse ourselves fully into the processes and come out with a report that all who have a stake in the Nigeria game will be proud of. We must endeavour to speak the truth at all times and be very diligent.”

Other members of the committee are former Super Falcons’ captain, four-time Women AFCON winner and FIFA World Cup star Desire Oparanozie; former Super Eagles’ captain, winner of AFCON gold, silver and bronze and FIFA World Cup star Mutiu Adepoju; former Nigeria U20 team strategist and President of the Nigeria Football Coaches Association, Ladan Bosso and; former FIFA referee and former head of department of Management Studies at the National Institute for Sports, Dr Alex Mana. The secretary is former Nigeria international and deputy director in the NFF Technical Department, Nasiru Jibril.

Present at the inauguration were the Director General/CEO of the National Institute for Sports, H. E. Comrade Philip Shaibu; NFF’s Director of Media & Communications, Dr Ademola Olajire; Director of Legal Services, Mr. Okey Obi Esq; Director of Finance & Administration, Mr. Rajan Zaka; Director of Competitions, Ms Ruth David; Director of Protocol, Mr. Barnabas Joro and; Director of Member Associations and Special Duties, Mr. Ali Abubakar Muhammad.