Sports minister gives NFF one month to come up with report on hiring foreign coach

SPORTS minister Solomon Dalung has given the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) one month to submit its report on the planned appointment of a foreign coach to manage the Super Eagles in the run-up to the 2018 World Cup.

 

Last week, Nigeria got knocked out of the 2017 African Cup of Nations after losing 0-1 to Egypt in Alexandria and the NFF chairman Amaju Pinnick said that he will now focus his attention on the World Cup taking place in Russia in two years time. However, Mr Pinnick insisted that to do this, the federation would be hiring the services of s foreign coach.

 

This has not been popular with local coaches though who claim they have not been given the opportunity to prove themselves. Yesterday, Mr Pinnick and the minister held a crunch meeting to debate the issue, during which the federation was asked to come up with a report detailing the viability of employing a foreign coach including the source of his salary.

 

At the meeting, Mr Dalung asked that the report should be ready and sent to him within four weeks by the NFF.  He also sought to know how the coach will be paid as government is not in a position to cushion the salary of the foreign manager.

Mr Dalung said: “The report from the main actors should tell us what happened during the failed African Cup of Nations 2017 qualifier and the way forward. We must take our destiny into our own hands but if we want to hire a foreign coach, the enabling sources of funds should be provided.

 

"Also, the NFF must tell us if they can afford to pay a foreign technical adviser. In the future, however, the rampant hiring and firing of coaches should be a thing of history in our football."

 

Although NFF is funded by the government which pays a monthly grant of N150m (£527,450), the subvention does not cover the salary of coaches which is raised from other means, including sponsorship fees and grants from Fifa. Yesterday’s meeting unanimously agreed that Nigeria came short in the qualifying campaign for the Africa Cup of Nations because of instability, a lack of internal cohesion and the use of too many players by coaches Sunday Oliseh and Samson Siasia.

 

Sports minister Dalung similarly said that Nigeria should consider a strategic investment in grassroots sports as a way of identifying talent and plugging the architectural problem inherent in development. He added that such a plan should be designed in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education, with the government giving approval on funding of school sports.