FIFA Supports Nigeria's Football Reforms and May Form Committee

The Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, has announced that FIFA supports Nigeria’s plan to reform its football administration. This follows the resignation of the entire board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and its General Secretary.

Dikko shared this news during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday. He spoke after meeting with FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF) officials in Switzerland.

He mentioned that the government introduced its reform plans to FIFA after the resignations caused a leadership gap in the NFF. "After the resignation of the entire board of the NFF and the General Secretary, naturally we have a lacuna, because there was no provision in the rulebook for situations like that, where we have nobody now to run the NFF legally within the rulebook," Dikko said.

Dikko explained that the government aims to carry out a complete reform of Nigeria’s football structures, which will involve talks with different stakeholders. He stated, "We told them, this is our position as a government. The government wants to undertake a comprehensive reform of the football structures in Nigeria, which is something that even FIFA knew has been on the cards for decades in Nigeria."

He continued, "So we discussed comprehensive proposals from the government, which are the issues that we think should be reformed, based on the concerns of the stakeholders, and we all agreed on that."

FIFA has accepted the resignations of the NFF board and the proposed reforms. Dikko stressed that the process must adhere to the relevant rules. "In short, FIFA endorsed the resignation, endorsed reform, agreed that the reform must happen, but it has to go through the proper process and the rulebooks, and they are ready to accommodate that," he asserted.

Earlier in September, FIFA and CAF assessed the crisis within the Nigeria Football Federation. This visit came after the mass resignation of NFF president Ibrahim Gusau, General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi, and other board members on August 27. This happened amid rising concerns about the performances of Nigeria’s national and youth teams, especially the failure of the senior men’s and women’s teams to qualify for their World Cups.

Dikko mentioned that FIFA could set up a normalisation committee to oversee the reform process. He explained that this committee would be appointed by FIFA with specific terms of reference and timelines. "That committee is not appointed by the Nigerian government alone. No, the committee is normally called a normalisation committee. It’s a FIFA committee."

"It’s FIFA that looks at what is on ground, and they appoint the committee with clear timelines, clear terms of reference and everything, and what they should deliver," he added. Dikko said the committee may operate for six months to a year, depending on the reforms needed and agreements made with stakeholders.

"It can be between maybe six months to a maximum of one year, depending on what reforms need to be done, depending on the final agreement that will be done with the stakeholders," he said.

He also mentioned that committee members would need to be independent of the NFF electoral process. "The committee will be independent. That’s why it doesn’t have to be anybody who is involved within the system, or who has an interest in contesting the election," Dikko said.

He added, "In fact, once you participate in that committee, you are barred from contesting the election or being part of the NFF for a certain amount of time, so that you can be neutral and just do the work that is supposed to be done."

The committee will report directly to FIFA while also consulting with the Nigerian government. "The committee is reporting directly to FIFA, in consultation with the government. And the committee is even being paid by FIFA when they are doing the work. That is how it is done," Dikko explained.

Dikko noted that consultations have already started with members of the NFF Congress ahead of a planned FIFA visit to Nigeria. "The first thing is, let’s have some conversation with some of the stakeholders to discuss the blueprint of the comprehensive reform, which we have started even yesterday."

He added, "I held a meeting with some of the Congress members. We have shared the document with them for them to make an input. And then FIFA will eventually come here to have an on-site visit, where we can eventually invite other stakeholders to come and have a conversation, so that we have perfected the document."

The proposed reforms will also target the NFF electoral system. "Part of the reforms is also to rebuild the electoral code, to rebuild the electoral system and make it very transparent," he noted.

Dikko mentioned that the government is considering a system where candidates will run with known teams before an election. "We are creating a new system. For example, in our email conversation, somebody said, look, there’s no election of NFF without problems, so why can’t you decide to go for a selective selection process?"

He explained, "Which means, once you become president of the NFF, you have to declare your team, who will be your vice president, who will be your secretary, who will be your members, who will be your marketing people and everything."

Dikko said this way, everyone knows who they are voting for and that they share the same vision. He added that reforms will happen in phases, with some measures possibly extending beyond the normalisation committee's time.

"The reform we want to do is very, very comprehensive. It might not be able to be done within the framework of the NFF. So the NFF will divide the reforms into the immediate, medium and long term," he stated.

He concluded by saying, "Whoever is the first person, he must continue when this reform is passed, to make sure it is delivered within the framework. So, by and large, everything is working, everything is fine, and hopefully, as we have started the consultation here now, everything will be fine, and then FIFA will come and we will take the process forward."