Tinubu Directs Nigerian Football ‘Comprehensive Reform’ After NFF Shake-up

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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed that a “comprehensive reform” of Nigerian football be implemented.

This was contained in a statement released on Thursday, Bayo Onanuga, Presidential Spokesperson, which informed that Tinubu made the decision to help the country “overcome repeated failures to qualify for major regional, continental and world tournaments”.

The president blamed “structural weaknesses within the system” for the continuous struggle of Nigerian football “while other sports had recorded meaningful progress since the reset of the sports sector under the re-established National Sports Commission (NSC)”.

Said Tinubu: “The reform must respond to a long-standing need to strengthen governance, administration, stakeholder representation, development pathways, domestic competitions and accountability across Nigerian football.

Said Tinubu: “The reform must respond to a long-standing need to strengthen governance, administration, stakeholder representation, development pathways, domestic competitions and accountability across Nigerian football”.

“Football, Nigeria’s most popular sport and the greatest beneficiary of public support, investment and national attention, has continued to struggle basically due to structural deficits within the system”.

Tinubu directed Shehu Dikko, NSC chairman, to work with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) secretariat to facilitate a broad, consultative reform process.

He added that the process must involve appropriate engagement with FIFA and CAF to protect Nigeria against sanctions for governmental interference.

The presidential directive came a few hours after Ibrahim Gusau confirmed his resignation as NFF president. Muhammad Sanusi also stepped down as the Federation’s general secretary.

Under Gusau’s leadership, the senior men’s and women’s national teams failed to qualify for the World Cup of their respective genders. The Super Falcons missed the women’s World Cup for the first time since the competition’s inception in 1991. The Super Eagles failed to reach the 2026 World Cup, despite Africa getting 10 slots for the first time. The failure also extended to age-grade football, with the men’s U-17 and U-20 teams missing out on World Cups.

Findings established that the NFF leadership was pressured to step down after intervention from top Federal Government officials, from the National Sports Commission (NSC) to the Presidency.Gusau was elected NFF president in 2022, and his tenure was supposed to end next month, with an elective congress scheduled for September 27.

The fate of the congress is seemingly uncertain as reports claim that a normalisation committee will be formed to oversee the Federation’s affairs until further notice.

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