President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, on Monday in Abuja assured that the federation was totally committed to the improvement of refereeing in Nigeria.
Pinnick gave the assurance while speaking at the opening ceremony of this year’s FIFA Member Association (MA) Elite Programme for Nigerian referees, assessors and physical fitness trainers.
He said his administration was resolved to tackling one of the big issues of Nigerian football.
“Refereeing is a critical aspect of the game of football. In fact, it is a major issue in the game. You will recall that at the advent of our administration, referees were the first set of people we sent on capacity building programme.
“Since then, our determination to improve refereeing in Nigerian football has never waned, and going forward, we are fully committed to ensuring that we achieve wholesale improvement in all aspects of officiating.
“I want to appreciate the instructors sent by FIFA (Felix Tangawarima and Tracey Lovell) and I believe our referees stand to gain so much knowledge from this year’s programme,’’ Pinnick, who is also a member of the CAF Executive Committee and Member of the Organising Committee for FIFA Competitions, said.
Tangawarima, a former FIFA referee from Zimbabwe, now a referees’ instructor, praised the leadership of NFF for the presence of most of its Executive Committee members at the ceremony.
“In my years of working on referee development programmes, I have never seen such robust top-echelon support for a refereeing course.
“The words of the NFF President, who also has foothold in CAF and FIFA, are also very reassuring, and I challenge you all to justify the confidence the NFF leadership has reposed in you by committing to integrity and excellence.’’
TheNewsGuru reports that NFF vice presidents Seyi Akinwunmi and Shehu Dikko, as well as Executive Committee members Ahmed Yusuf and Ibrahim Gusau were at the occasion.
Others were Executive Committee members Sharif Inuwa, Suleiman Kwande, Aisha Falode, Mohammed Alkali and Babagana Kalli, and NFF General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi.