BUHARI’S CLARION CALL

There is need to give more attention to grassroots development in line with FIFA’s philosophy, writes Tony Olutomiwa

The recent directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Youth and Sports Minister, Sunday Dare and the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, on the imperative of improving football performance and standards in the country, no doubt, was a clarion call.

President Buhari had directed both the minister and the NFF boss during a meeting at the Presidential Villa to fashion out a 10-year football development plan that will see the game “develop and move in a more dynamic trajectory from football administration to youth and grassroots football, talent hunt and use of Nigeria’s homebased talents”.

Of course, the president’s message is clear on the need to put more attention on grassroots development in line with FIFA’s development philosophy, which is the foundation for growth. It is reckoned that grassroots soccer is the most important part of the player’s pathway, where young people get their first experience and develop their skills.

Regrettably, we seem to have lost touch with this important element of the game until recently when the current minister of Youth and Sports came on board and radically improving the lot of soccer by returning to the golden era in youth football development especially the Principal’s Cup, which was so popular in the past and other innovative programmes to turn things around. This year’s hosting of the National Sports Festival, too, is raising hope of renewal, which is good for athletics development because many of the Imos, Egbunikes, Onyalis and Ajunwas were discovered at this athletics summit and similar competitions in the past.

Nonetheless, while it could be argued that the game of soccer in particular has fared relatively well in recent times, many football aficionados are wont to state that we have actually fell from the top we used to be in terms of performance at home and abroad. Needless to say that Nigeria used to dominate the African soccer scene before the gradual decline.

As of April 1994, the Nigerian national football team was ranked 5th in the FIFA rankings, the highest FIFA ranking position ever achieved by an African team. However, the remarkable record was sharply contrasted by November 3, 2020 when Nigeria was ranked by FIFA as 35th in the world.

A pointer to this reality is that unlike in the past, Nigerian players are no longer featured prominently in the big transfer news in Europe. Since the feat of the Super Eagles at the African Cup of Nations in 2013, we have been unable to create those sensational outings in subsequent editions. Also Nigeria’s U-17 and U-20 teams have not produced those sterling performances that consistently put the country’s name on the global soccer map in the past.

But hope is rising with the good thinking by the minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Dare, who is doing some good job by putting in place those institutional programmes that can over time take Nigeria back to the top we should be because we are endowed to do so.

Essentially, we need to develop the grassroots not only in soccer but in all our sports, thereby creating opportunities for talent discovery that can then be harnessed and developed to stardom as we had in the past, even winning gold in soccer and athletics at the Olympics.

This much was relayed to the youngsters at the recently concluded two-day talent hunt and mentoring programmme of the African Children Talent Discovery Foundation (ACTDF) in Bauchi by the Minister of Youth and Sports, who was represented by Bode Durotoye and Abiodun Owoborode, Personal Assistant and Director of Grassroots Development respectively.

While presenting cash gifts to the young talents at the end of the event, the minister lauded the initiative and urged the discovered talents to make the best use of the opportunity provided by the foundation to excel.

On his part, founder of the foundation, Engr. Noah Dalajji, was unequivocal that the programme will continue as an annual event and an opportunity for talented youngsters to participate in an open process and from where those who are really talented could be discovered and exposed for self actualization.

Speaking at the closing ceremony at the Tafawa Balewa Stadium, venue of the event, Dallaji affirmed that many Nigerian youths are talented and as such, the ACTDF was out to discover such talents, adding that the mentoring element of the programme was important since it would give them the needed inspiration. “Many Nigerian youths are talented, only waiting to have a platform, a ladder, they can climb and that ladder has come. We are here to show the world that Nigeria will be better,” he said. “So our objective is to support their talents but they need to first be discovered and be determined. It’s their choice. This is what we are doing to provide that important ladder to climb and be useful to themselves, their families and country”.

The strategic inclusion of mentoring in the Bauchi ACTDF talent hunt was quite revealing. Both in the classroom and on the pitch, the young boys interfaced, mingled and played with the likes of Daniel Amokachi, Kanu Nwankwo, Emmanuel Babayaro, Austin Jay Jay Okocha, Augustine Eguavoen, Taribo West, Tijani Babangida, Garba Lawal, Emmanuel Emenike and Sunday Mbah. Ghana’s ex-international, Stephen Appiah, Congo’s Lomana Lua Lua and Khailou Fadiga of Senegal were also on ground to mentor the talents in what Dallaji said was to “teach, motivate and inspire confidence and build their skills”.

Perhaps in a bid to make the event sink in the memory of the young talents, it is apt to also say that it was one event where celebrity meets sport, driving home the point of grassroots development even in such a razzmatazz.

On this note, Dallaji remarked: ”Yes, we brought those celebrities to Bauchi to let the talent hunt sink in the minds of those young boys we discovered and realize that they too could become great and celebrated as celebrities who came to support them but to the extent that they also work for it. It’s their choice. ACTDF has provided the ladder, now left to them to be determined to do so”.

And so, it was thrilling to see the ace musician, Peter Okoye (Mr. P), of the P-Square fame play in the novelty match and came out to rousing ovation during his short performance just as we saw Reekado Banks doing similarly. Then the likes of Waje, Timi Dakolo, Ozo, Kaffy and the Nollywood crew added beauty to the memorable event.

But what the Bauchi fans won’t forget in a hurry were those displays by Jay Jay Okocha, Kanu Nwankwo and Daniel Amokachi, who like other stars in the novelty match between the Friends of Dallaji and Bauchi All Stars, reenacted their glorious soccer skills which should inspire the talents.

Thus as we commend the ACTDF for such a good initiative, the burning issue, invariably, relates to the charge by President Buhari to both the Youth and Sports Ministry and the NFF leadership to live up to the expectations of Mr. Present and all soccer loving Nigerians on the imperative of not only crafting the 10-year soccer development plan but also actually delivering on its core objectives.