The National Sports Commission Chairman, Shehu Dikko, says FIFA has endorsed Nigeria’s plan to comprehensively reform its football administration following the resignation of the entire board of the Nigeria Football Federation and its General Secretary.

Dikko disclosed this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday after meeting with FIFA and Confederation of African Football officials in Switzerland.

He said the government presented its reform proposals to FIFA after the resignation created a leadership vacuum within the NFF.

“After the resignation of the entire board of the NFF and the General Secretary, naturally we have a lacuna, because there was no provision in the rulebook for situations like that, where we have nobody now to run the NFF legally within the rulebook.”

According to Dikko, the government wants to undertake a comprehensive reform of Nigeria’s football structures, with the process involving consultations with stakeholders.

He said, “We told them, this is our position as a government. The government wants to undertake a comprehensive reform of the football structures in Nigeria, which is something that even FIFA knew has been on the cards for decades in Nigeria.

“So we discussed comprehensive proposals from the government, which are the issues that we think should be reformed, based on the concerns of the stakeholders, and we all agreed on that.”

Dikko said FIFA had endorsed both the resignation of the NFF board and the proposed reforms, while stressing that the process must follow the applicable rules.

“In short, FIFA endorsed the resignation, endorsed reform, agreed that the reform must happen, but it has to go through the proper process and the rulebooks, and they are ready to accommodate that,” he asserted.

Earlier in September, FIFA and CAF assessment of the crisis within the Nigeria Football Federation ended.

FIFA’s visit followed the mass resignation of NFF president Ibrahim Gusau, General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi and other board members on August 27, amid mounting scrutiny over the performances of Nigeria’s national and youth teams, particularly the failure of the senior men’s and women’s teams to qualify for their respective World Cups.

FIFA may appoint normalisation committee

Dikko said FIFA could establish a normalisation committee to oversee the reform process, explaining that such a committee would be appointed by FIFA with defined terms of reference and timelines.

The chairman stated, “That committee is not appointed by the Nigerian government alone. No, the committee is normally called a normalisation committee. It’s a FIFA committee.

“It’s FIFA that looks at what is on ground, and they appoint the committee with clear timelines, clear terms of reference and everything, and what they should deliver.”

He said the committee could operate for between six months and one year, depending on the reforms required and the agreement reached with stakeholders.

“It can be between maybe six months to a maximum of one year, depending on what reforms need to be done, depending on the final agreement that will be done with the stakeholders,” he said.

Dikko added that members of the proposed committee would be expected to remain independent of the NFF electoral process.

He added, “The committee will be independent. That’s why it doesn’t have to be anybody who is involved within the system, or who has an interest in contesting the election.

“In fact, once you participate in that committee, you are barred from contesting the election or being part of the NFF for a certain amount of time, so that you can be neutral and just do the work that is supposed to be done.”

He said the committee would report directly to FIFA while consulting with the Nigerian government.

“The committee is reporting directly to FIFA, in consultation with the government. And the committee is even being paid by FIFA when they are doing the work. That is how it is done,” Dikko said.

Stakeholder consultations begin

Dikko said consultations had already begun with members of the NFF Congress ahead of a planned FIFA visit to Nigeria.

The NSC chair disclosed, “The first thing is, let’s have some conversation with some of the stakeholders to discuss the blueprint of the comprehensive reform, which we have started even yesterday.

“I held a meeting with some of the Congress members. We have shared the document with them for them to make an input. And then FIFA will eventually come here to have an on-site visit, where we can eventually invite other stakeholders to come and have a conversation, so that we have perfected the document.”

He said the proposed reforms would also target the NFF electoral system.

“Part of the reforms is also to rebuild the electoral code, to rebuild the electoral system and make it very transparent,” he noted.

Dikko said the government was considering a system where candidates would contest with teams that would be known to voters before an election.

“We are creating a new system. For example, in our email conversation, somebody said, look, there’s no election of NFF without problems, so why can’t you decide to go for a selective selection process?

“Which means, once you become president of the NFF, you have to declare your team — who will be your vice president, who will be your secretary, who will be your members, who will be your marketing people and everything.

“So it’s a whole team that will contest the election. The other candidate will declare his own candidate. By the time people are voting, they know this is the person they are voting for, these are the people they are voting for, and they are all aligned in the same vision,” he noted.

Dikko said the reforms would be implemented in phases, with some measures potentially extending beyond the tenure of a normalisation committee.

He stated, “The reform we want to do is very, very comprehensive. It might not be able to be done within the framework of the NFF.

“So the NFF will divide the reforms into the immediate, medium and long term. We can see what we can be able to achieve during the normalisation committee’s engagement, and then what can be passed to the next NFF committee.”

He added that the process would continue after the normalisation committee’s engagement.

“Whoever is the first person, he must continue when this reform is passed, to make sure it is delivered within the framework. So, by and large, everything is working, everything is fine, and hopefully, as we have started the consultation here now, everything will be fine, and then FIFA will come and we will take the process forward,” he said.