By Onochie Anibeze
Nigerians have continued to visit world football governing body, FIFA, with numerous problems.The body is worried over reports of debts to the contractors of Local Organising Committee, LOC. Ordinarily, such would nothave mattered to them but for the fact that some of these contractors have written them threatening to disrupt the ongoing Under-17 World Cup if they were not paid. Being an international body threats were not strange to them. But they did not know that it would be so bad that some of the petty contractors would approach them to beg for money.

SPORTS MINISTER

“This is rubbishing the LOC but they are disgracing Nigerians and the federal government. It’s about Nigeria and FIFA will leave with a very bad impression of the country,” one top football official said.

The actions of the contractors were contained in one report that we stumbled on.The LOC had run into financial problems following lack of funds.

The N9 billion initially approved for them was exhausted before the championship started. The sports ministry was said to have spent N5 billion on “intervention” which was explained as a tacit move to get fifa approve the venues and not to take the competition away from Nigeria. The remaining was left for the LOC to work.

But there were also issues on the money and by the time the championship was kicking off chairmen of the various centres had no money to execute their programmes.

And the reports from different centres were shameful. FIFA, which expectedly, has been in close liaison with the LOC, would not publicly condemn Nigeria’s state of preparedness but admitted that there were challenges which they hoped would be sorted out as the championship progressed.

They were however scandalised that the attendance on the opening day was poor. They have appealed to Nigerians to come and watch the games. They expressed disappointment over the poor publicity for the championship and regretted that the LOC could not mobilise Nigerians enough. FIFA’s vice President, Jack Warner, hopes to see more fans in subsequent games.

Nigeria has now spent over the N35 billion on the championship, an amount that the federal government frowned at and described all those behind the LOC original budget as thieves. The N12 billion on organisation, the N8 billion to NTA, the euros 3.7m for security and the N2 billion to venues were all part of the expenditure on Nigeria 2009.  There were also billions of Naira state governors spent to upgrade the venues. From the Federal Government to the LOC, transparency and prudence appear to have no meaning.

But these might not have mattered if there was a grand organisation and Nigerians proud of the event. The organisation, so far falls short of both local and international expectations. But FIFA has said that the LOC would improve.