.Tips Eagles for Russia 2018 World Cup
By George Aluo
Chairman Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Obinna Ogba is a lawmaker who is grounded when it comes to football. He was a member of the nation’s soccer governing body, NFF before making it to the National Assembly.
Ogba last week was at the “Cathedral”, Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu where he watched the NPFL game involving Rangers and FC IfeanyiUbah.
The Oriental battle which ended 1-0 in favour of Rangers lived up to its billing with Ogba giving a pat on the back to both the NFF and organisers of the league, LMC for re branding the domestic league.
Ogba who after the game spoke exclusively to Sunday Sunsports said one thing that would make him leave the senate a fulfilled man is the passage of the NFF bill, a bill that has passed its second reading.
Enjoy the interview:
As chairman Senate Committee on sports, how has been like in the last two years in the Senate, sports wise?
It has been an interesting but tough period in the sense that the much needed financial support which we need to develop sports in the country has not been forthcoming. This has affected our performance in sports as a country and the development of sports.
But I believe with the two bills passed now, the National Sports Commission (NSC) bill and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) bill, things will change a lot when they are signed into law.
Talking about the two bills, how did you get the job done in the Senate?
Well, I must tell you that it was very tough. I give a big thank you to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu who are both great sports lovers. I must thank my other colleagues in the house for their cooperation and support. Virtually every senator supported the NFF bill.
I must tell you that the main problem the NFF bill suffered was from outside. I resisted all the move made by some people to frustrate it. I know what the bill is all about because I m not an outsider when it comes to football administration in this country. I have been in NFF and I know what the challenges are. I kept pushing for the bill to scale through and one thing I can tell you is that I will be a fulfilled man if passing the NFF bill into law is the only thing I achieve as a senator. When I was appointed the chairman of the senate committee on sports I told myself that I must do something to change the face of Nigerian football. I don’t want Nigerian football to keep suffering. If the bill is passed into law it would help our football a lot. This issue of the NFF being autonomous would be a thing of the past. The soccer federation can then look for sponsors and there are so many corporate bodies out there ready to bankroll football once we create the right atmosphere. The NFF would be out of government control, once the bill is signed into law.
Apart from the NFF bill, I have also presented the bill on the establishment of a University of Sports to fast track the development of sports in the country. The bill on the establishment of a Nigeria Youth Development Commission is also in the works. It has passed through first reading. When we reconvene, I will push for it to go through second reading and all that. We need to solve the problem of our youths and that is why I m pushing for the establishment of a youth commission.
You have been on the NFF board, do you think the NFF bill will solve the problem of football administration in the country?
I strongly believe it would go a long way. The bill has taken care of so many of the things causing crisis in our football. For instance, when the bill is passed into law, the issue of people going to the ordinary court to seek redress after election will stop. There is provision for people to go to a court of arbitration. The NFF will be independent. That way, they can operate without being weighed down by government bureaucracy and source for funds. They will have their staff and this present situation in which the ministry posts staff to the Glass House will stop. The NFF staff will know clearly who to report to and the board can hire and fire. The NFF bill will take care of virtually all the challenges facing the game and why it is not being run as big business as it is outside our shores.
Moving forward, are you satisfied with what those in Glass House are doing today?
Very well. I m impressed with what Amaju Pinnick and his team are doing. They are doing a good job. This informed why I supported Pinnick when he contested to be in the executive committee of CAF. I was in Ethiopia to give him the backing of the National Assembly. I m happy he won that election. His emergence as CAF executive committee member has taken Nigerian football to the next level. Pinnick is a young man with vision. Today, nobody can short change the country in the board room. You know since Amos Adamu left CAF we didn’t have a voice again in the game. And as you know, the game is played not just on the field of play. A lot of politics comes into play and under Issa Hayatou we were being short changed. Hayatou did nothing for us and beyond that, he had over stayed his welcome as head of African football. We needed a change and I m impressed that Pinnick was one of those that engineered that change. You can see that Pinnick is attracting sponsors to NFF. What he (Pinnick) needs to succeed is the support of every stakeholder.
Do you see Nigeria qualifying for the Russia 2018 World Cup?
No doubt about that. I m confident we will beat Cameroon home and away. Forget the loss to South Africa. It is good we lost that game. It will make the boys and the technical crew to sit up ahead of the battle against Cameroon. We can not afford not to hoist our flag in Russia next year. However, my advise to the Eagles is to see the double header against Cameroon as a do or die affair. We must not only aspire to beat them in Uyo but to also do so in Limbe so that the matches against Zambia and Algeria would be mere formalities. I m optimistic we will land in Russia.