A Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) presidential aspirant, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, has promised to effect structural changes in the football house to move the country forward in the game.
Though the elections billed to take place in Benin on September 30 is currently under threat following a court injunction by the Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria (PFAN), there is the likelihood that the injunction would be vacated before Friday just as the body did before the Annual General Assembly of the federation last month.
Consequently, Akinwunmi and other candidates bidding for various position have continued their consultations and electioneering for the new board of the NFF expected to emerge on September 30.
The Lagos State Football Association Chairman and 1st Vice President of the NFF said it was important to adopt a change in the management of football in Nigeria.
He said: “Now, we have a top to bottom approach in the management in football. With me in the driver’s seat, leading the team, we will reverse that and make sure we have a bottom to top approach where football is grassroots based.
“Every state will have a budget with parameters to work with. It’s a process, it is technology based, we will audit it quarterly so that we will see what they have done and then plan the next budget for them. What happens is that football is played across the country at the grassroots level and we can take it from there.
“The second thing is that we are going to create the business football. We will include the private sector and they will invest and sponsor. We will be a lot more involved in coaching and we will implement the football master plan and start work on the short-term goals.”
Akinwunmi stressed that he was the best candidates among the 11 contesting for the presidency of the NFF.
“I am the best candidate because what others have in bits, I have it altogether. I have run a league, grassroots football, media adviser to the FA itself, I have been chairman of international football competitions and I have also been on the reform commissions, I have been a member of the master plan committee. I have gone from the bottom to the top. I am running as unifier,” Akinwunmi noted.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
