Buruj Sports Academy Stands Out Among Others – John Shittu

Football agent, John Olatunji Shittu (left) with CEO of Buruj Sports Academy, Dr Salaudeen Waheed 

Out of numerous football academies spread across the country, Buruj Sports Academy has been identified as an academy where young players can achieve their heart desires in football.

This was the position of a renowned FIFA licensed football agent, John Olatunji Shittu, during an interview. Shittu who managed Super Eagles captain, John Mikel Obi said that the man at the helms of affairs at Buruj Sports Academy, Dr Salaudeen Waheed is a man of integrity who he believes meant well for his players.

“It s so strange that I don’t know the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the academy, Dr Salaudeen Waheed from anywhere before now. I do a lot of researches, I talk to people when I’m in the country and Buruj Sports Academy came out in many of my discussions with people in football. I personally took my time to do some researches on the owner of the academy and noticed that the management has been very consistent.

“At the time I don’t know what the intention of the academy was, and what the owner was trying to achieve until I invited him to my office. We had a chat and I saw that he has a vision and passion for the game. From what I see so far, I don’t think he’s driven by money which I believe fit into the concept and policy of ours as a company, and as an individual, it’s something that I have been doing for years.

“We’ve been consistent with identifying talent with qualities and helping them to progress in their professional journey in life. That’s what we looked at when I sat with Dr Salaudeen and I said let’s see what we can do and here we are. We have all the contacts and networks, and one thing that we built on is excellence and hard work. If you are able to give us quality players, we will use our platform to ensure we get these players out and help them in the future, ” Shittu said.

The football agent wanted the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and other academies to take a cue from what Dr Salaudeen is doing at Buruj Sports Academy, saying: “we must get more private people involved like the owner of Buruj Sports Academy. At the moment, every academy is like a Mungo Park, but we have few good ones like Buruj. Academies in Nigeria need to be properly sanitised so that there would be control and balances. It’s the football body that can do that either the NFF or states football associations. Once we start doing that, things will get better.