For Nigerian football to develop sustainably, one principle must become non-negotiable: competence must come before loyalty in the appointment and election of those entrusted with managing the game.
For too long, we have approached sports administration as though leadership positions are rewards to be distributed rather than responsibilities requiring specialised knowledge, experience, vision and measurable capacity. This problem exists across different levels of Nigerian sports administration, from the local governments to the states and the national level.
In many instances, appointments into sports-related offices are heavily influenced by political considerations. Individuals who supported a government or political movement during an election may subsequently be compensated with appointments, including positions requiring significant knowledge of sports management and administration.
Political loyalty may be valuable in politics, but it is not a substitute for competence.
Football today is far more than organising matches, buying jerseys, distributing balls or accompanying teams to competitions. Modern football is a sophisticated global industry involving sports management, finance, marketing, broadcasting, technology, infrastructure, player development, scouting, data analytics, sports science, governance, commercial partnerships and international relations.
Anyone entrusted with administering football must therefore understand the business and ecosystem he or she has been appointed to manage.
When Loyalty Becomes the Primary Qualification
There is nothing inherently wrong with loyalty. Every organisation requires people who believe in its objectives and are committed to its leadership. The problem begins when loyalty becomes a substitute for capacity. When the principal qualification for occupying an important sports position is political loyalty, friendship, personal relationships or allegiance to an influential individual, institutional development inevitably suffers. A person cannot effectively develop what he does not understand.
If administrators do not understand grassroots development, they cannot build effective development structures. If they do not understand football economics, they cannot commercialise competitions. If they do not understand player development and international transfer systems, they cannot build pathways connecting grassroots talents with professional opportunities. If they do not understand broadcasting, digital media and sponsorship, they cannot properly package competitions for investors and audiences. And if they do not understand governance, institutional structures will gradually become dependent on personalities rather than systems.
This is one of the fundamental reasons Nigerian Football has struggled to maximise its enormous potential over the last decade.
The Problem Is Not Limited to Political Appointments
The same challenge can manifest itself even where football administrators are elected rather than appointed. Positions such as the Presidency and Board membership of the Nigeria Football Federation are determined through elections. Ideally, elections should provide an opportunity for football stakeholders to evaluate candidates according to competence, experience, programmes and capacity to move the game forward. But another form of loyalty politics can emerge.
An outgoing or incumbent leadership may naturally prefer a successor who is considered loyal, friendly or protective of existing interests rather than the candidate best equipped to transform the institution. Nigeria must gradually move away from this culture.
The leadership transition surrounding the 2022 NFF election in Benin, Edo State, provides a useful basis for discussing the broader question of succession politics in Nigerian football. Regardless of individual personalities, the lesson should be institutional: The overriding consideration in choosing the leadership of Nigerian football must always be what is best for Nigerian football. An outgoing president should not determine his preferred successor primarily on loyalty.
State Football Association leaders should not support candidates simply because of personal relationships. Congress members should not see elections merely as contests between political blocs. Every delegate should be asking: Who among these candidates possesses the competence, integrity, experience, vision and administrative capacity required to move Nigerian football forward?
That question should outweigh friendship, regional interests, political alliances and personal loyalty.
Football Has Become Too Sophisticated for Trial-and-Error Leadership
The global football industry has changed dramatically. Successful football countries are increasingly building interconnected systems involving grassroots development, academies, professional leagues, technology, sports science, data, broadcasting, commercial partnerships and sophisticated talent identification networks.
Nigeria cannot expect to compete effectively within this environment while treating sports administration as an opportunity for political compensation. We cannot continue appointing people first and expecting them to learn the industry afterwards. Competence must precede appointment.
This principle should apply from the Local Football Councils to State Football Associations, state sports institutions and ultimately the Nigeria Football Federation. The foundation matters.
If the people managing football at the local level understand grassroots development, better players, coaches, referees and administrators can emerge. If competent people manage football at state level, competitions can become better organised and commercially attractive. If competent administrators manage the national structures, domestic football can be properly positioned within the international football economy. Development therefore cannot begin only from Abuja. It must begin from the foundation.
A Positive Direction Must Be Consolidated
There are encouraging indications that greater attention is being given to professional competence and relevant experience in the management of Nigerian sports. Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, the increasing involvement of individuals with demonstrable backgrounds in sports management, administration and the sports industry offers an important lesson. The principle behind this direction should be encouraged and institutionalised beyond the Federal Government. It should spread to the states. It should spread to local governments. It should influence State Football Associations. It should influence Local Football Councils. And ultimately, it should influence how delegates elect the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation. Nigeria will only experience the full benefits when competence becomes a system rather than an exception.
Competence Does Not Mean Loyalty Is Irrelevant
The argument is not that loyalty has no place in leadership. An administrator should be loyal to the organisation, its objectives and the people he serves. But the proper sequence should be:
Competence first. Integrity second. Vision and capacity next. Loyalty thereafter.
A competent person who shares the objectives of an administration can contribute enormously. A loyal person without the necessary competence may sincerely support the administration but still lack the capacity to deliver results.
Sports administration cannot be built principally around the question: “Who supported us?”
It must increasingly be built around: “Who understands this job and can deliver?”
That seemingly simple change in philosophy could transform Nigerian football. We must build institutions, not loyal camps.
Perhaps the greatest danger of loyalty-driven administration is that it creates institutions built around individuals. Every incoming administration arrives with its own people and policies changes, projects disappear, developmental programmes are abandoned, institutional knowledge is lost, and, Nigerian football starts all over again.
This cycle has contributed significantly to our inability to build sustainable football structures.
Competence-driven institutions behave differently. They establish development plans, they document processes, they measure performance, they create succession structures, they retain institutional knowledge, and most importantly, programmes survive the individuals who created them. That is how football nations are built.
The Next Decade Must Be Different
Nigeria possesses virtually everything required to become one of the world’s important football nations: population, passion, talent, history, commercial potential and an enormous domestic audience. What has often been missing is the institutional architecture capable of converting these advantages into sustainable development. Leadership is central to correcting that problem.
Over the next decade, appointments into sports administration should increasingly be subjected to questions of professional competence. Candidates for football elections should be scrutinised according to their programmes, track records and understanding of the modern football industry.
Congress members should also be deliberately exposed to capacity-building programmes so that those responsible for electing football leaders understand the increasingly complex industry they are voting people to manage. The same principle should reach the grassroots.
Local Football Councils should not simply exist as electoral structures. They should become genuine development institutions populated by knowledgeable stakeholders — coaches, referees, former players, club and academy owners, administrators, sports marketers and other professionals capable of contributing to football development.
That is how we begin rebuilding Nigerian football from the foundation.
