By KATE OBODO
Former vice  President of the Nigerian Referees Association, NRA, and now vice chairman of Anambra  Football Association, Jude Benjamin Obikwelu a.k.a JBC has called on Nigerians not to write-off  Nigerian  referees, despite the poor handling of the Nigerian league.

According to JBC as he is fondly called, the quality of Nigerian Referees has gone beyond what people think or see. He said “I think we have had  a drastic change and also  there have been a lot of improvement  in the quality of referees that we have now because the NRA insists so much on physical  fitness and age now.

All the referees in the Premier League are just below the age of 30, in fact if you are above 30 we do not promote you to the Premier league. This is to enable the younger people that are fit to take charge. Reason is that the game is more of physical activities and display and we can not afford to allow people who are not strong enough to officiate the games.

He  continues,“there are some things we are also trying to do  to improve on  the quality of referees in the country. At the state levels, we are trying to improve the quality of referees by  holding seminars at the end of every month. We intend to  educate them on the basic techniques and accurate interpretation of the laws of the  game.

When asked if there are good referees to match up to international standard, JBC said “Of course we have good referees in the country that can match up to the international standard, the problem is that most Nigerians, especially those  who prefer the English league to ours,  believe Nigerian referees are nothing to write home about. These are the people who talk ill about the  referees, but did not know how much quality they possess. The quality of Nigerian referees has gone beyond what people  think, they  have improved,” he said.

On the issue of referees being intimidated by league officials, he said: “The problem is not the referees but  that most of this clubs are owned by government and it is like a political weapon for the government.  So when the club is not playing as expected, the team manager and officials do every within there reach to win at all cost

But I want to tell Nigerian Referees not to be afraid of any intimidation because that era has gone. This time around any club that misbehaves with the  referees will face the consequences,” he concluded.