The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, has demanded a written explanation from the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) over poor outings of the country’s teams.
Dare made this known on Monday in a meeting that lasted less than 30 minutes with members of the NFF board.
He ordered the NFF to “provide the federal government with written explanation to the developments of our teams failing in four major tournaments.”
“From stock taking. It is now time to render account to Nigerians,” Dare said.
The sports minister said even as he warned that “We need to take very difficult decisions.”
The NFF secretariat particularly came under intense scrutiny for the technical failings of the board.
“We need to run a reality check. Nigerians are not happy with our state of football. We must start with the football administration,” he said.
“Nigerians want to see us working proactively to get things working again.
“I am not saying we should win at all cost, beyond identifying various issues what do we need to do to deal with these issues.
“The board has a responsibility. I am asking the board to do surgical examinations of what has gone wrong with our football.”
Dare also demanded for the nominal roll of the NFF as it was revealed that the federation has continued to pay some people with expired contracts.
He said the ministry’s concern goes beyond the dismal performance but is also about the domestic league.
In reaction to the minister’s demands, NFF president, Amaju Pinnick lamented that federation was faced with a toxic situation that affected its administration.
