NFF CRISIS: HEAD OF SERVICES MAY WADE IN

There may be light at the end of the tunnel over the battle between the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) for legal control of the Nigerian football governing body, as the Head of Service of the federation (HOSF), Prof Oladapo Afolabi (OON), has expressed willingness to look into the case.

Speaking through the Director Welfare in the Office of the Head of Service, James Ofoegbu, who represented him in the Federation of Civil Services monthly walking and jogging exercise in Abuja, the HOSF said that he would be glad to wade into the crisis if the National Sports Commission (NSC) formally writes to him.

Prof Afolabi, while expressing confidence that the commission is competent to resolve the imbroglio, pointed out that he could not meddle in the crisis without getting a written request from the commission to intervene.

'I believe the National Sports Commission (NSC) is addressing the challenge they are having in the Glass House. The commission is in a better position to handle it and if the commission has any issues arising from that which it cannot handle, they can always write to inform us that they require our help in the mediation process.

'However, we cannot start interfering directly in the NFF rift because there is a mechanism already set up to handle such issues and I believe they will sort it out. As a stakeholder in Nigerian football, I want to say that we really don't need all these squabbles to move Nigerian football forward. The football family should work together.

Debunking the impression that government is underfunding sports, he said: 'Government has always been supporting sports but the issues concerning budgetary must be weaved into the overall constraint because there are so many competing demands compare to the funds available to the government.'