NFF Reforms Committee Ends Meeting In Abuja

ABUBAKAR FADIL OLADIMEJI

The NFF Reforms Committee on Tuesday evening ended a two-day meeting in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja with focus on how to best re-position Nigerian Football through tinkering with governance structure, women’s football and youth/grassroots development and the various leagues.

Monday’s session began with opening remarks by Chairman of the committee, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, who is also NFF’s 1^st Vice President, in which he appreciated members for the intensive and extensive work done through virtual meetings and contributions since the committee was inaugurated in December 2018.

He thanked members and assured them that their contributions were immensely useful. He took time to appreciate the various local and international experts who had at various times joined the committee’s virtual meetings and noted that others will be invites shortly. He also commended football stakeholders and members of the general public who have taken the advantage of the call by the committee for ideas, suggestions and recommendations on the way forward for the Nigeria game, saying the committee’s final recommendations would be implemented by the NFF.

It would be recalled that at the committee’s inauguration in December 2018, President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick, had said: “There would have been no compelling need to put together this group of eminent Nigerians, persons of considerable weight and relevance across football and beyond, if we were not determined to implement the committee’s recommendations.”

Also on Monday, the committee reviewed previous headings/documents emanating from its previous meetings, dwelt on NFF governance structure, league football, women’s football and commercial matters.

On Tuesday, members functioned in breakout sessions, on the different topics, followed by presentations on group recommendations and pathways to reforms.

The Chairman of the Committee, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi expressed satisfaction with the progress that has been made in the past two days, the quality and robustness of discussions. He noted that recommendations will soon be made to the NFF Executive Committee who in turn will be expected to put them forward to the Congress for deliberation, and hopefully, ratification.

The committee’s terms of reference, as captured by the Congress of Nigerian Football which gave it mandate at the Annual General Assembly in October 2018, are:

1) Provide the most stable and sustainable foundations for football in Nigeria.

2) Ensure a commitment to the principles of good governance, inclusion and transparency in all areas of its operations which also requires its member associations, officials and employees to meet the high standards set in this regard.

3) Adapt to the latest development in the world of football to ensure that its operations and values adhere to the best governance standards possible.

4) Progressively adopt a wide range of reforms that reflect the views of the Nigerian and International Football Community in order to meet the evolving needs of the modern game.

5) Ensure that the principles enunciated by the Committee and its recommendations which are accepted by the Executive Committee are incorporated into an amended version of the NFF Statutes and pave the way for further significant and much-needed changes to NFF’s governance structure, electoral procedures and dispute resolution mechanism.