One of the leaders in Nigeria football player’s Union, Harrison Jalla has applauded the Hon. Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare for asserting his authority over Nigerian Football.
Jalla who was formerly the president of the defunct National Association of Nigerian Footballers (NANF) said in a statement issued and made available to newsmen that the action of the Honorable Minister is in consonance with Nigeria Football Association’s ‘ACT 2004’ which is the only governing instrument of the Nigeria football as at today.
Jalla was speaking against the backdrop of the fallout of the all-important meeting held between the Minister and members of the Amaju Pinnick led NFF Board which was borne out of the dismal and embarrassing performance of the Super Eagles in the two leg ties against Sierra Leone in the AFCON qualifiers.
He expressed his delight over the action of the Honourable Minister and his strong directives that the Nigeria Football Federation should ensure that 25% of invited players must be home-based Nigerian footballers. Secondly, his call for changes in the Administrative and Technical structures of the NFF to usher in good governance, and finally, to observe strict adherence to professional clubs licensing from 2020/2021 football season”.
Jalla added that “in the past six years, NFF President Amaju has been in the forefront of recruitment of foreign based players of Nigerian descent, visiting their parents and managers in the full glare of the public while the domestic leagues are pinning away in Nigeria without sponsors”.
Jalla who is now Chairman of the trustee for the new player’s union stressed that some of these over hyped players by the media are below average in their performance, and in the true sense of the word, not better than the home based players ignored by our football governing body.
“Coach Gernot Rohr, a third rate coach hired by Pinnick with a bogus contract sum to Waste the country’s hard earned resources, kowtowed in the direction of Amaju Pinnick to neglect the home based players in selection of players for the Super Eagles. That Sierra Leonean National team will lose to Rangers International FC of Enugu, Enyimba International of Aba and Kano Pillars home and away anytime any day”, he stated.
He argued that the Pinnick led NFF Board has dampened the morale and killed the spirit of Nigeria home based players. “Every country’s football is measured and rated by the quality of its domestic leagues. Unfortunately the Pinnick led Board narrowed its interest, and restricted it to diversion of funds meant for football Development in the country and outright stealing”.
“In our Days, the NFA used to have a permanent home based National team camp for the Super Eagles where the best players with exceptional talents in the leagues are selected and assembled strictly on merit and released to their clubs on request for weekends league matches”, Jalla fumed.
He added that when Coach Clemens Westerhof took over as head coach, he maintained that tradition, while thanking Hon. Sunday Dare for his intervention by initiating these reforms to save our football from an imminent collapse, saying his intervention was very timely, if not, the situation would have degenerated beyond redemption.
