November 13, (THEWILL) – On Thursday, when Honourable Minister Sunday Dare, of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, inaugurated a 16-man committee in Abuja to draft a 10-year football masterplan for Nigeria’s intention to once again become a football juggernaut on the continent and beyond, a milestone towards that realisation was reached.
As THEWILL reported in September, this move was sequel to a presidential charge in June this year, while receiving in audience Minister Dare and Amaju Melvin Pinnick, the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), for the Ministry to collaborate with the NFF to map out a decade-long blueprint for the revival of the country’s football fortunes.
At the inauguration on Thursday therefore, Dare made bold to declare that the federal government, through the Sports Ministry, and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), are on the same page in terms of football development in Nigeria and the committee’s inauguration was proof of this collaborative efforts for the country’s football.
In that September report, THEWILL noted that a 17-member committee had been drafted chock-full of some of the country’s best football minds with names of individuals that had experienced football in the field of play and at the administrative level in the country and who have the foreknowledge upon which to draw to take on the presidential responsibility of producing such a blueprint.
However, when Dare presented the final list of the members of the committee, it was short one name, which the Minister explained by disclosing that Adokie Amiesimaka, the famed former Green Eagles player that won the African Nations Cup in 1980, former Chairman of Sharks Football club and a former Attorney General of Rivers State, had respectfully decided to opt out.
That left a 16-man group composed of a chairman Ibrahim Galadima; a vice chairman Yemi Idowu, and the rest including Emmanuel Babayaro, Sunday Oliseh, Segun Odegbami, Ikeddy Isiguzo, Honourable Ayo Omidiran, Augustine Ojiabor and Tobechukwu Okigbo.
The others were Ade Ojeikere, Mohammed Sanusi, Ogbuefi Tony Nnachetta, Muhammad Daha Umar Faruk, John Opubor and Dr Bode Durotoye, who will function as Committee Secretary and Musa Amadu, as Assistant Committee Secretary.
There was also female involvement as the committee included women’s football administrator, Honourable Ayo Omidiran, a federal lawmaker representing the Ayedaade/Irewole/Isokan federal constituency in Osun State.
The Minister’s prepared inauguration statement at the ceremony, held at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja, charged the committee, which also included club owners, promoters, marketers, media, and sponsors, to do their best to formulate a blueprint that will build an enduring structure for Nigerian football in all aspects, including commercialisation, as football remained the country’s top sport.
However, Nigeria’s experience with committees and masterplans and blueprints is such that these idea-generating processes have not always translated to desired changes. It will therefore seem that the problem is not the collection of members that come together to generate these ideas but the implementation of the often laudable proposals that come from these committees.
A 10-year masterplan will obviously cut across the tenure of more than one President and his cabinet of Ministers including the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, who will be charged with the implementation of the proposals that will come from this committee. What guarantees are there to ensure that the ideas submitted will not be jettisoned by another President, and or minister, who does not share the vision of the incumbent somewhere down the line?
It is not immediately obvious why the Rivers State Green Eagles icon Amiesimaka decided to opt out but considerations such as the assurance of the dedicated implementation of the ideas of the masterplan and the feasibility of the proposals that will be part of the committee’s recommendation are the types of thoughts that can discourage a person who values the use of his or her time.
Yet, it is a commendable project and can only be positively impactful for the football fortunes of the country if everything possible is made for it to be a truly successful endeavour.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
