President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Pinnick at the weekend reiterated that the reconstitution of a number of the Federation’s standing committees and the judicial bodies were done only after extensive consultations with various football interest groups and stakeholders in the country.
While dissolving the 20 standing committees and two judicial bodies at the end of the NFF Annual General Assembly in Abuja on December 16, 2015, Pinnick stated that the dissolution was to re-invigorate the committees, make room for more inclusive arrangement and bring in more highly –qualified personalities.
The quality and capacity of membership of the six standing committees and the two judicial bodies released on Friday has validated Pinnick’s claims.
In an unprecedented move, the NFF has sought to carry along various interest groups, while also including some of the leading football personalities in the land.
The Ethics and Fairplay Committee is now headed by Mazi Amanze Uchegbulam, a former NFF 1st Vice President and the Deputy President of the CAF Appeal Board. Also included in that Committee are reverred legal luminary, Barr. A. U. Mustapha (vice chairman); Dr. Ahmed Tijjani Yusuf (two –time NFF General Secretary and lecturer at the Bayero University, Kano); Mr. Mainsara Illo (deputy chief executive of Organizing Committee for the 8th All-Africa Games that Nigeria hosted in 2003 and vice chairman of the Organizing Committee for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup); Hon. Musa Elayo Abdullahi (a former Member of the House of Representatives and later, Minister of State, Justice Ministry); Hon. Bukola Olopade (former Commissioner for Sports in Ogun State) and Chief Abel Ehigie, a Benin High Chief and immediate past Chairman of the Edo State Football Association.
The Disciplinary Board has been rejuvenated with the immediate past NFF General Secretary, Barr. Musa Amadu as chairman, and Prof. Femi Adegbesan, a professor of sports psychology at the University of Ibadan, as vice chairman.
Legal luminary, Barr. Eddy Mark still heads the Appeal Board, but a number of heavyweight names have been brought in. There is Alh. Ibrahim Galadima, a former NFF President and during whose tenure Nigeria adopted the FIFA Statutes as the regulatory instrument for football administration. Galadima is globally seen as a high priest of integrity and incorruptibility.
Hon. Sani Ahmed Toro (three –time NFF General Secretary and two –time Member of the House of Representatives), Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba (former NFF General Secretary and FIFA Match Commissioner) and Mallam Kassim Bayero (a former international player and presently director in the Federal Ministry of Environment) are also on the Appeal Board.
The Technical and Development Committee is now headed by Barr. Chris Green, with former Nigeria captains Christian Chukwu, Mutiu Adepoju, Victor Ikpeba and Garba Lawal retained. Barr. Isaac Danladi, Chairman of Nasarawa United FC and Chairman of Club Owners, has been drafted in. Also retained is Mr. Paul Bassey, CAF General Coordinator and FIFA Match Commissioner.
Pinnick said on Sunday that there are more pleasant surprises to come when the membership of the remaining 13 standing committees is unveiled next week.
“The Committees will once more be the engine room of football administration, and that is why we are bringing the best hands from everywhere. We are consulting wide to ensure that every group is carried along because the football family is a united and indivisible one.”
Still to be reconstituted are the Organizing, Finance, Legal, Players’ Status, Sports Medicine, Media and Publicity, Football, Futsal/Beach Soccer, Strategic Studies, Marketing, Sponsorship and Television Advisory, Women’s Football, Protocol and Ceremonial and Youth Football Committees.
