Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, believes the leadership crisis in Nigeria’s football has continued to fester because “there’s more money there than in the oil industry.”
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has been embroiled in a leadership tussle for the past two years since elections to the executive committee in Warri.
Dalung has now traced the crisis to the money in the game ‘and the many selfish interests chasing this money’, which he said is more than what is obtainable in the oil sector where Nigeria is one of the leading players in Africa.
“There’s more cash in football than in the oil sector and there is so much selfish interests and as a result, we have this crisis,” Dalung said on a Hausa interview programme broadcast by Freedom Radio Kano on Wednesday morning.
“There is someone who wants to force his way as the NFF president and that is why I have had to order full police presence at the NFF secretariat. If not, work will not be going on there.”
Dalung also spoke on a committee headed by former NFF president, Ibrahim Galadima, he set up to chart a fresh path for the country’s football, saying among other things he has been encouraged by FIFA officials to implement the recommendations of this advisory committee.
“FIFA officials have told me that the members of this committee are straightforward and trust worthy. They have finished their work and will soon submit it to me and I hope to work with their recommendations because they will move our football forward,” he promised.
