President Bola Tinubu has ordered a “comprehensive reform” of Nigerian football following a string of failures by the country’s national teams to qualify for major international competitions.
The directive came on Thursday, hours after Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President Ibrahim Musa Gusau, General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi and members of the federation’s Executive Committee resigned amid mounting pressure over the state of Nigerian football.
The NFF confirmed the mass resignations in a statement on Thursday, saying Gusau’s decision was intended to pave the way for “a comprehensive and orderly reform process” to address longstanding institutional, governance and developmental challenges confronting the game.
Announcing the presidential directive, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said Tinubu ordered the reform to enable Nigeria to overcome its repeated failures to qualify for major regional, continental and global competitions.
The President attributed the persistent decline in the fortunes of Nigerian football to what he described as “structural weaknesses” within the system, noting that other sports had recorded progress following the restructuring of the sports sector under the re-established National Sports Commission (NSC).
“The reform must respond to a longstanding need to strengthen governance, administration, stakeholder representation, development pathways, domestic competitions and accountability across Nigerian football,” Tinubu said.
He added: “Football, Nigeria’s most popular sport and the greatest beneficiary of public support, investment and national attention, has continued to struggle basically due to structural deficits within the system.”
