TheCable

Amaju Pinnick, president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), says the current economic situation in the country is taking a toll on the organisation.

Speaking with NAN on Sunday after the match between Ikorodu United and MFM FC at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos, Pinnick said managing football in Nigeria is a “tough call” that requires patience and perseverance.

“The harsh economic crunch has affected our spending, which is not limited to us only; it happens across board; we are almost left with nothing in our purse,” he said.

“We have to be scrutinising our camping now because this year is a busy one for the federation, so, we have appealed to some of the coaches to shelve their camping for now.

“When you hear of camping, people just think it is assembling players and that is all. It is more than that; it involves so many things and expenses. Camping involves paying the hotel bills, transportation, players’ welfare and the ad hoc staff and many other expenses.

“There are many competitions this year; the qualifiers for AFCON, Olympics, U-21, Falcons and others; all these competitions are capital intensive, so, we need to re-arrange our priorities.

“We have appealed to some of the coaches to bear with the football house for now so that we will be able to stablise and get our acts together.

“Directing the affairs as the head of football administration in the country is not an easy job.

“I must be honest with you; it is not an easy job to be superintending 11 national teams in Nigeria with each coming out with a different programme and schedule.

Pinnick also disclosed that the insistence of Kaduna as the venue for the AFCON qualifiers between the Super Eagles and the Pharaohs of Egypt was not the sole decision of NFF.

“The decision on the venue for the match between Eagles and the Pharaohs was not made by NFF alone; the National Sport Commission (NSC) also has an input,” he said.

“We should note that the Eagles have never lost a match in Kaduna before and that is a pointer that the venue was well conceived. Another issue is that in terms of followership, support and proximity, Kaduna Stadium is a better choice because we have fans travelling from neighbouring states such as Kano that come to watch.

“On the pitch, we have an inter-ministerial committee that had looked into making the facilities ready for the qualifiers and we have the backing of the Kaduna state government too.

“All these are enough to make Kaduna the choice for the match.”

Pinnick said NFF was considering bringing football games back to Lagos, which he described as the cradle of football in Nigeria.

“We are considering Lagos for future matches because it is the cradle of football in Nigeria and note that Lagos now has a good developmental plan for sports,” he said.

“Lagos state now has a standard sports development programme and structures enough to have a national match played there.

“Considering the last marathon in the state which was well organised, many of us are surprised with the level of coordination Lagos state put into the hosting.  Even the last National Sport Festival hosted by the state which was won by Delta, my state, was a better managed sports festival.”