The former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mallam AbdulGaniyu Bolaji Abdullahi has said that the problem of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in the development of the round leather game is the outright focus on getting immediate results, despite the consequences that has continued to tell on its growth.
Mallam Abdullahi, who is the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Kwara Central Senatorial District for the forthcoming 2023 General Elections made the declaration today, Wednesday August 10, 2022, while delivering a lecture at the 33rd Media Parliament of Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ), Kwara State Chapter held at the NUJ Press Centre, Offa Road, GRA, Ilorin.
The Media Parliament was themed “Retooling Nigeria for Emerging Challenges”
According to him, ‘the problem of the NFF is that they are too focused on getting immediate results, rathers than strengthening the institutions that will ensure total development of the game from the grassroots.
Mallam Abdullahi, who was the Minister when the Super Eagles won the 2013 Nations Cup, 19 years after doing same said that the fact that it took the nation that long to win it again was a reflection of total neglect of the development culture in football in Nigeria.
“We won the Nations Cup in 1994, and why didn’t we win the following edition? Waiting for another 19 years to do so was not good enough. And again, how we won the AFCON in 2013 is a story for another day.
The former Minister, who was the brain behind the introduction of the youth development system, the National Youth Games in 2013 also said that the Games was a deliberate plan to build athletes for the future, a platform which is yielding positive results today.
“We critical analysed the National Sports Festival, which accommodates young and older atheletes, and discovered that there was the need to create a separate platform for the younger ones to grow, and that was how we came about the National Youth Games, which has no doubt, changed the sports development system in the country.
He said that achieving podium success has to do with total commitment, and that it would take an athlete about 10,000 hours of training, especially doing so from at least, seven years of age.
