President of the Nigeria
Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Pinnick at the weekend reiterated that the
reconstitution of a number of the Federation’s standing committees and the
judicial bodies were done only after extensive consultations with various
football interest groups and stakeholders in the country.
While dissolving the 20
standing committees and two judicial bodies at the end of the NFF Annual
General Assembly in Abuja on December 16, 2015, Pinnick stated that the
dissolution was to re-invigorate the committees, make room for more inclusive arrangement
and bring in more highly –qualified personalities.
The quality and capacity
of membership of the six standing committees and the two judicial bodies
released on Friday has validated Pinnick’s claims.
In an unprecedented
move, the NFF has sought to carry along various interest groups, while also
including some of the leading football personalities in the land.
The Ethics and Fairplay
Committee is now headed by Mazi Amanze Uchegbulam, a former NFF 1st
Vice President and the Deputy President of the CAF Appeal Board. Also included
in that Committee are reverred legal luminary, Barr. A. U. Mustapha (vice
chairman); Dr. Ahmed Tijjani Yusuf (two –time NFF General Secretary and
lecturer at the Bayero University, Kano); Mr. Mainsara Illo (deputy chief
executive of Organizing Committee for the 8th All-Africa Games that
Nigeria hosted in 2003 and vice chairman of the Organizing Committee for the
2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup); Hon. Musa Elayo Abdullahi (a former Member of the
House of Representatives and later, Minister of State, Justice Ministry); Hon.
Bukola Olopade (former Commissioner for Sports in Ogun State) and Chief Abel Ehigie,
a Benin High Chief and immediate past Chairman of the Edo State Football
Association.
The Disciplinary Board
has been rejuvenated with the immediate past NFF General Secretary, Barr. Musa
Amadu as chairman, and Prof. Femi Adegbesan, a professor of sports psychology
at the University of Ibadan, as vice chairman.
Legal luminary, Barr.
Eddy Mark still heads the Appeal Board, but a number of heavyweight names have
been brought in. There is Alh. Ibrahim Galadima, a former NFF President and
during whose tenure Nigeria adopted the FIFA Statutes as the regulatory
instrument for football administration. Galadima is globally seen as a high
priest of integrity and incorruptibility.
Hon. Sani Ahmed Toro
(three –time NFF General Secretary and two –time Member of the House of
Representatives), Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba (former NFF General Secretary and FIFA
Match Commissioner) and Mallam Kassim Bayero (a former international player and
presently director in the Federal Ministry of Environment) are also on the
Appeal Board.
The Technical and
Development Committee is now headed by Barr. Chris Green, with former Nigeria
captains Christian Chukwu, Mutiu Adepoju, Victor Ikpeba and Garba Lawal
retained. Barr. Isaac Danladi, Chairman of Nasarawa United FC and Chairman of
Club Owners, has been drafted in. Also retained is Mr. Paul Bassey, CAF General
Coordinator and FIFA Match Commissioner.
Pinnick said on Sunday
that there are more pleasant surprises to come when the membership of the
remaining 13 standing committees is unveiled next week.
“The Committees will
once more be the engine room of football administration, and that is why we are
bringing the best hands from everywhere. We are consulting wide to ensure that
every group is carried along because the football family is a united and
indivisible one.”
Still to be reconstituted are the Organizing, Finance,
Legal, Players’ Status, Sports Medicine, Media and Publicity, Football,
Futsal/Beach Soccer, Strategic Studies, Marketing, Sponsorship and Television
Advisory, Women’s Football, Protocol and Ceremonial and Youth Football
Committees.
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