TheCable

Amaju Pinnick, the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), has disclosed that his board is “going through difficult times” due to the volume of debt inherited from the Aminu Maigari-led board.

Pinnick, who disclosed this on Tuesday while briefing the media on the activities of the federation, also spoke on the perception people have of the NFF.

“We are going through difficult times,” he said.

“People hear all kinds of stories of money or the other, yet nobody has asked where the federation is funding the participation of almost all the 13 national teams in international competitions.

“As for Super Eagles games, we know how much we spend on ticket alone if we invite 20 players for example. One player is about $8, 000 and it takes between N90 million to N120 million to prosecute a team. We should know that the harsh economic situation is affecting the corporate world and they are not redeeming their sponsorship.

“All the training we are conducting overseas were made possible through my connections with the corporate Nigerians. They really want us to succeed. It was not just going through the papers of the federation because I know how much debt we inherited coming into this federation. It was a lot of money, not because the former federation was reckless, but because they wanted to give the teams quality preparations.”

Aside the challenges of running the various national teams Pinnick spoke on the “PR job” he does for the federation.

“I have done a lot of repairs, image laundry, re-branding and one thing that bungling our mind whenever we go to talk to people and organisation, like FIFA and other corporate bodies in Africa and beyond is that before you say anything they will tell you 20 things about Nigeria’s football that is negative. So, even you want to plan, you have to first do the repair.

“While we will not want to apportion blame to anybody, we should look at the country first before any other person. The glorious years of our football history is the last four years and yet no sponsor want to partner with us. This means something is fundamentally wrong. Our image is battered and we inherited empty treasure, but yet people keep asking about money.”

And instead of “asking about money”, Pinnick rather needs constructive criticism of the federation from the media and the general public.

“Nigeria is very important and if the federation does not exist, it means that football does not exist also in Nigeria. Let us think of Nigeria first because this is the country that we are all proud of. Let us try as much as possible in all our criticism to the federation to very emphatic, constructive, instructive and devoid of sentiment.

“For us to build Nigeria’s football to an appreciable level we need your support and we can’t do without you. If you said today that Amaju Pinnick is a thief, is not going to affect me alone because nobody would want to business with the NFF again. I am the face of the federation as the president. We are quite accessible and you call us for any information.”