Nigeria Retreats in Plan to Ban Football
The nation of Nigeria can now breathe a sigh of relief. After further consideration, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has decided not to suspend the national football team.
Jonathan had chosen to suspend the football program for two years due to the team’s poor showing at the World Cup and ongoing allegations of corruption.
Jonathan’s office read in a statement that following a meeting with the Nigerian Football Federation on Monday, the government changed their minds and decided to keep the program running. In order to sweeten the deal for Jonathan, the Federation fired their president and vice-president.
The NFF’s statement said that they "assured the president of their commitment" and that they would construct a national football program "that will bring glory, rather than consistent embarrassment to Nigeria on the world stage."
Perhaps the decision came under pressure from FIFA. FIFA had given the Nigerian government a deadline of 6 p.m. to drop the suspension or face harsh consequences. FIFA does not allow government intervention with football programs and had Jonathan not dropped the suspension, the team would have likely faced a much longer ban from FIFA than from the government.
Nigeria likely just dodged a bullet. FIFA has shown its dissatisfaction with government interference in the past. FIFA has suspended countries before who have decided to regulate the football programs. They have handed harsh suspensions from club teams to referees and officials. Nigeria did the right thing for their sake with relieving the ban.
Last Wednesday, a spokesman for the president stated that Jonathan wanted the Super Eagles suspended for two years. Jonathan wanted Nigerian football to be reconstructed following the team’s poor showing in the 2010 World Cup. Nigeria only earned one point over three group games.
Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA has stated that he’s very pleased with the government’s decision to retract the ban. He is also happy with FIFA for taking all the necessary steps to resolve the issue.
"We do hope that everything comes back to normal," Blatter said.
The Women’s U-20 World Cup starts next week in Germany and Nigeria is ready to send its team there. It’s a good opportunity to rebuild hope in the country’s program.
Nigerian club Heartland avoided a forfeit in a game scheduled for next week. The team is looking to play in the African Champions League and they are set to face Egypt's Al-Ahly next week.
There is no doubt that the Nigerians performance in South Africa was very disappointing. The team showed little promise. They lost to Argentina 1-0, lost to Greece 2-1, and then drew with South Korea 2-2. Don’t let the scores fool you though. Nigeria was dominated in its first two games and it was very surprising that they were dominated by Greece. The man that kept the games close was goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, who made save after save and gave Nigeria a glimmer of hope in advancing. However, the team really let down their keeper and could not ride the wave of momentum he provided.
There were reasons other than the World Cup that the program faced suspension by the government. The impending suspension followed allegations of corruption. Presidential spokesman Ima Niboro stated that from now on all funds toward the NFF would be examined and "all those found wanting will be sanctioned."
You have to wonder what would have been the right decision regarding the football program. On one hand, a suspension may have improved the team’s prospects in the long term but there’d be no guarantees. On the other hand, Nigeria still has to make several changes to improve the country’s standing on the world stage. They simply cannot be satisfied with qualifying for the World Cup anymore. This goes for all the African teams. It is time for them to start winning.
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