By Patrick Omorodion

The Nigeria Football Federation, as the football house illegally calls itself, never learns from the past or they prefer to do things the wrong way all the time. Yet they want to get a different result. How can they get it?

In the 1990s, when the Effiom Okon Board of the NFA, as it was rightly known by the Decree that set it up then, was sacked and then Chairman of the National Sports Commission, NSC appointed a sole administrator to run its affair, a bad seed was sown in the appointment of coaches.

The NFA then introduced what could go into the Guinness Book of records with the payment of sign-on fees for any coach it employed for the senior national team, the Super Eagles. Dutchman, Johannes Bonfrere was the first beneficiary of that ridiculous arrangement.

The whole world was told the coach was ‘signed on’ for $300,000 but he later told his close confidants that he got only $150,000, the rest of course went into the pockets of the officials who brokered the deal.

Again when a replacement was sought for Shaibu Amodu, a list of coaches was bandied and the men eventually invited for an interview (Nigeria is the only country that performs this ritual). Some of the coaches, those who have conscience, came out to say that they could not accept the condition given them and offered to discontinue with the whole exercise.

Former Kwara State governor, Bukola Saraki even had to wade in when one of the shortlisted coaches we gathered was close to him spilled the beans on the crookedness of the interview panel who were asking for a cut from the supposed contract sum, as he called on the government to investigate the allegation.

Lars Lagerback got the job, at an inflated rate, and the balance was to be shared by some officials it was alleged. The difference between what he quoted he would receive and what was actually paid was expected to be shared by those who brokered the deal. The result was glaring, a woeful failure at the 2010 World Cup and the Swede just went back home from there.

Again, the same football house has done it again. With Samson Siasia relieved of  his job, they grouped a motley crowd of 10 officials of the technical committee to interview coaches for Siasia’s job. The committee couldn’t finish their job in one day and had to extend their mandate, incuring more expenses for the same football house always crying of lack of funds.

You then ask why the NFF needs a 10-man panel to interview a coach. The panelists would need to be housed, fed and paid sitting allowances while their job lasted. In other climes, the football authorities know what they want and go to the coach to negotiate terms and therefore avoid wastage like the NFF has just done.When will these wastages stop?

Eguavoen’s junketting
It is now very clear that the NFF is banking on the U-23 team to save face from the embarrassment they  have brought upon the nations football. They therefore approved a tour of Europe for the team’s coach, Austine Eguavoen to talk to coaches of the various foreign clubs to release these players.

Eguavoen went quite alright we were told, but did he see all the players? No.. He said he had to call some of the clubs on phone. If he knew  he could call them on phone, why embark on the trip? Why was the trip approved if the NFF knew it could be done via phone calls.

The Olympic qualfier in Morocco is to be played at a time that is not a FIFA Free period and European clubs are not obliged to release their players. Don’t the NFF know this? Even before getting a positive response from these clubs, Eguavoen has sent majority of the home-based players home.

The failure of the same U-23 team to qualify for the 2011 All Africa Games im Maputo, Mozambique last September was due mainly to lack of blending on their part as Eguavoen used different players fronm Europe to prosecute the qualfiers.

Eguavoen appears to lack confidence in his players and as a panicky measure, invites different players all the time, sometimes from countries like Bangledesh, better known for cricket than football. His team is the last hope for the Maigari-led NFF and like they did for the Eagles and Falcons, will announce a mouth-watering match bonus and allowances for the team if they pick a London 2012 Olympic ticket. What a jankara style of administration?