FIFA VISIT: NSC, NFF CONGRESS MUST FIND COMMON GROUND FOR FOOTBALL REFORMS

Ohis Asein faksmedia

As FIFA prepares to engage key stakeholders in Nigeria over the ongoing football reform process, the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Nigeria Football Congress must find a common ground and speak with one voice if the proposed reforms are to achieve the desired result.

The expected FIFA engagement presents an important opportunity for all sides to put their differences aside, listen to one another and place the long-term interest of Nigerian football above individual or institutional interests. Without a clear understanding between the NSC and the Nigeria Football Congress, the reform process could face unnecessary obstacles before it even gains proper ground.

The NSC has already made its position on the need to reposition Nigerian football known, while stakeholders within the football family also have legitimate concerns about how any reform process should be handled. These concerns must not become a source of confrontation. Rather, they should form the basis for meaningful dialogue that can produce a workable roadmap for the future of the game.

What Nigerian football needs at this critical moment is unity of purpose, transparency and genuine consultation. The FIFA meeting should therefore not be seen as a battle between the NSC and the football stakeholders, but as an opportunity to build a structure capable of delivering better administration, stronger grassroots development, improved competitions and greater accountability.

The Nigeria Football Congress also has a responsibility to understand that reforms are sometimes necessary when a system requires improvement. At the same time, the NSC must ensure that the voices of genuine football stakeholders are heard and properly considered. Both sides have a role to play, and neither can successfully move Nigerian football forward alone.

If the NSC and the Nigeria Football Congress can sit together, reach a common understanding and present a united position ahead of the FIFA engagement, it could become the beginning of a new chapter for Nigerian football. But if disagreement, suspicion and institutional rivalry dominate the process, the much-anticipated reforms may struggle to get off the ground.

The time has come for everyone to put Nigerian football first. FIFA is coming to listen; the NSC and the football family must be ready to speak with one voice for the future of the game.