Sports News

Nigeria Football Federation : As Gusau marks two years in office, my chronicle of his towering strides and giant achievements – Malikawa

Nigeria Football Federation : As Gusau marks two years in office, my chronicle of his towering strides and giant achievements – Malikawa

A recount of the milestone achievements of the Nigeria Football Federation Board led by President Ibrahim Musa Gusau (MON) two years in office  should be scripted for record purposes. I strongly believed.

Today 30th September  marks exactly two years in office with the inauguration of the present board of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF,  under the stewardship  of  Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau (MON).

It could be recalled that Gusau and his  Board Members  on 30th September 2022 in Benin, the capital city of Edo state were given the mandate , in what could be best described as a  keenly contested election, the quantity and quality of the  contestants at the polls  was a glaring indicator and   testimony that only the best of the best could have emerged at the time.

After the election,  the board swung into action by reuniting the almost torn apart  football family in the country, Gusau stallion on to reviving the glory of football and creating new innovations  for the way forward.

Prominent amongst the achievements of Nigeria ‘s football Generalismo to mention but a few are, includes  :

Gusau succeeded in getting Nigeria to qualify for the 2024 AFCON held in Cote d’Iviore , with the  federation’s  commitment, our  darling Super Eagles reached the finals ,  losing narrowly 2-1 to  the host country , Nigeria finished  in the second position, in Africa’s most prestigious football fiesta.

The Gusau  led Board scored a pass mark in the last  two years under review by further empowering   officiating officials with the hybrid capacity  to handle matches at all levels , whilst also promoting the welfare of match officials, which is the bedrock for improving the round leather game in the country.

Gusau introduced the policy  of honouring retirees that served the federation, for so many years, which is the first of its kind in the history of the football administrative family in the country.

The Zamfara state born football technocrat used his vast experience to unite the football family and ended the Godfatherism  that had gained unwelcomed prominence amongst clubs owners.

His administration invested massively  in ensuring that Nigerian National teams  qualified and participated in virtually all key  international tournaments ,which include, All African Games (Male –U23), Olympic Games in Paris (Super Falcons), women under 20 world cup (Falconet) in Colombia , where Nigeria registered a quarter final finish .

Gusau’s open door policy in the last two years surmount the previous experiences , where football key stakeholders were bitter over ineptitude, today Nigeria’s football secretariat is a beehive of activities, he is punctual in office at the federation secretariat in Abuja except , when  he travels outside the country.

He has  created a very conducive atmosphere for service to thrive at the federation,  while working closely with all states football associations without bias.

The name of president Ibrahim Gusau would be written in Gold being the first federation president to come up with the policy of finishing the leagues on time and presenting the league winners with the  trophy accompanied with  all prizes attached.

Adding to his arrays of achievement is the starting and ending  the league  within the stipulated time..

Pursuit of Technical efficiency form part of the cornerstone of the present Nigerian football administration under the football watchman called Gusau, thank you sir , for reviving the coaches training and introducing the D. License coaching course with the aim of giving our  younger coaches the opportunity to build their carrier , this is another plus for the Ibrahim Gusau’s led Board.

Ensuring that all sub committees set up by his Board were inaugurated and all the members of the committees were given free hand to discharge their duties, as well as settling their inauguration allowances,  which hitherto was not the case whereby committees would be set up and their tenure will end without inauguration.

In the two years under review, the Nigeria Football Federation , NFF under the leadership of Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau (MON) has revived the glory of the federation cup (AKA President Cup) by making it more competitive among the participating teams ,  without any fear or favour

Must win at home  syndrome has ended in the Nigeria leagues, in the last two years under the present Board of the Federation.

Resolving the crises among the Nigerian Supporters club deserved to be mentioned as part of the achievement by his leadership.

Transparency, dedication and commitments of Ibrahim’s board are the engine room that magnet and brought the private sector on board   to work closely with the present board in partnering and sponsoring  of some programs of the Board.

Maintaining the country’s four slots in the prestigious  CAF Champions league and CAF Confederation Cup is another huge success of the present board in its  two years in Office.

In the two years under review, Gusau led administration initiated a lots of grass root soccer programs with the  aim of producing young talents that would become the future  players in various stages of our national football .

The incumbent NFF board , which parade crème de la crème of Nigerian football administration is working with all football stakeholders and carrying everyone on board in the spirit of equity and justice .

In two years, NFF board led by the Zamfara born football administrator has made a giant stride by making efforts to conquer Africa,  which saw the General Secretary of the Board, Dr. Sunusi Muhammad becoming chairman of the African football federation secretaries forum.

Maintaining Good and cordial relationship with the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports and other football bodies within and outside the country is worthy of mention on the queue of   the remarkable achievements recorded in the two years under review of the Gusau’s administration.  

Indeed, Ibrahim Musa Gusau has proved his mettle in the last two years of successfully piloting the affairs of the Nigeria Football Federation Board. 

The Sky should be the limit as the saying goes; more grease to your elbow, Mr. President.

E-Signed by..

Lurwanu Idris Malikawa Garu,

NFF Media and Publicity Committee Member.

Abdulgafar Oladimeji

Abdulgafar Oladimeji is a sports writer with over two decades experience in the industry. As a reporter , he has worked with top major Nigerian newspapers, freelancer with newspaper and broadcast media organizations in Africa, Europe and America. He is a well travelled sports journalists reporting major sports events across the globe.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button
NPFL