THE Nigeria Football Federation has once again tendered its apology to the government and people of the country over the failure to qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
The body has also announced that it has set in motion the process to quickly appoint a permanent successor to Austin Eguavoen as Super Eagles head coach.
“The Executive Committee tendered unreserved apology to the Federal Government and the people of Nigeria for the inability of the Super Eagles to win a ticket to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,” the communique of a meeting held on Tuesday in Abuja night reads in part.
“It praised the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR for his personal presence and apologised that the team faltered in the quest for a ticket to Qatar.”
The NFF also revealed that it had an agreement in place to share the $12.5m World Cup qualifying bonus with the players, who were set to collect 35 per cent.
The body also expressed its regret over the unfortunate death of Zambian doctor Joseph Kabungo, who passed away moments after the playoffs clash with Ghana last Tuesday at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.
It gave additional details about the doping officer’s death.
“The Executive Committee regretted the death of Dr Joseph Kabungo, appointed as the FIFA Doping Officer for the Nigeria/Ghana FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Playoff match in Abuja on 29th March 2022,” the communique added.
“It reiterated that Dr Kabungo died as a result of sudden cardiac arrest, as attested to by the autopsy report, and disclosed that his body had been flown to Zambia for final rites accompanied by his family members who were flown to Nigeria two days after the unfortunate incident.”
With Eguavoen and his assistants disengaged after the elimination from the World Cup race by Ghana, the NFF says it has begun moves to get a new set of coaches for the Super Eagles and other national teams.
“The Executive Committee mandated its Technical and Development Sub-Committee to, within the next five days, make recommendations to the Executive Committee on coaching crews for the Super Eagles, the CHAN team, the U20 Boys (Flying Eagles) and the U17 Boys (Golden Eaglets) ahead of upcoming assignments. This is to ensure preparations for the next qualifying tournaments and championships commence in earnest,” the communique notes while congratulating the Super Falcons for qualifying for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The exco also promised to take ‘decisive steps’ to improve Nigeria’s football fortunes, while promising to summon a general assembly as soon as it is possible.
The communique added: “After exhaustive deliberations, introspection and admission that the outpouring of emotions by fans and stakeholders over the FIFA World Cup miss was legitimate, the Executive Committee urged caution and patience, and assured that in tandem with the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, decisive steps will be taken in the next few days to reposition Nigeria Football in several areas, including the National Teams.
“It also disclosed that in line with the statutes, roadmap for new elections into the NFF Board will be designed at the Annual General Assembly (AGA) of the NFF once the ex parte injunction suspending the Congress from meeting is vacated. It can be recalled that the AGA to set the roadmap for the next NFF election cycle was statutorily scheduled to hold on 17th December, 2021 in Lagos but an ex parte court order was served on the NFF from a Federal High Court in Bayelsa State to stop the meeting.
“The NFF had since January 2022 approached the court to vacate the order and the next sitting is scheduled for 26th April 2022. The committee has now proposed June 2022 for the AGA to statutorily set the roadmap for the NFF elective congress provided the order is vacated accordingly.”
