The Nigeria Football Coaches Association (NFCA) on Tuesday faulted the decision of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to appoint a foreign coach for the Super Eagles.
Amaju Pinnick, the NFF President, made the decision public on the heels of Sunday Oliseh’s resignation last Friday as Super Eagles Head Coach.
Oliseh had cited lack of cooperation and breach of contract by the leadership of the NFF as part of reasons for quitting the position.
Bitrus Bewarang, President, NFCA, said in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, that the NFF president was not fair to Nigerian coaches who have contributed immensely to the development of football.
“The attention of the NFCA has been drawn to a statement credited to the NFF President, Amaju Pinnick that enough is enough for Nigerian coaches in the Super Eagles.
“We want to say as an Association that that statement from the NFF president was the most unfortunate in the present dispensation.
“This statement is coming at a time when the present administration is struggling to conserve the little foreign currencies that is available.
“It is at this critical time that the NFF leadership is thinking of embarking on a jamboree of employing a foreign coach who may not be competent as those that are based here at home.
“Moreover, it has become very evident that the NFF finds it very difficult to fulfill all their contractual agreement with indigenous coaches whenever they are engaged.
“This is entirely different when they employ a foreigner,’’ the statement said.
It added that the NFF only looks in the direction of the local coaches whenever they needed to rescue a bad situation.
It said: “We became more worried over this statement because the NFF has just drafted some indigenous coaches to go on a rescue mission to qualify the country for the 2017 African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
“Regrettably, his (Pinnick’s) comments means a foreign coach will be appointed to take the team to the competition proper and probably the World Cup.
“This antics is unacceptable by our Association, as it has become a normal trend to use indigenous coaches to achieve a target only to dump them for foreigners at the end of the day’’.
Bewarang, therefore, appealed to the NFF to respect the indigenous coaches as they do to foreigners.
