By Tony Ubani ,  in South Africa
A former Secretary-General of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Sani Toro has made a passionate call on the Federal Government to stop the general decay that has enveloped Nigerian football, which was heightened recently with the disgraceful exit of the Green Eagles at the ongoing FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Eagles

Speaking against the backdrop of Eagles worst ever outing at the World Cup since the country’s senior national team made its debut at the big stage at the 1994 edition in the United States of America, Toro, noted that Nigerian fans have been made to endure too much pain, anguish and disappointment, in the last four years, under the present leadership of the NFA.

Sounding pained and worried, Toro told Sports Vanguard over the telephone,  that the failure of the Eagles at the World Cup was as a result of the lax approach accorded to the team’s preparations by the people administering football matters in the country.

“We failed woefully at the World Cup in South Africa because the people running our football did not give the team the best preparations, from the onset. They should have accorded the World Cup project a more prominent feature on their agenda.

“It has become clear that they did not set out to ensure a credible outing by the Eagles, if you take into consideration the shoddy way they went in securing a low-class hotel as World Cup base for our team in South Africa, before they were overruled. It was a disaster waiting to happen because the planning was shoddy and vague”, added a fuming Toro.
He said that what went down in South Africa would replay itself over again in the future if the government fails to take urgent steps to address and redress the issues raised.

“Government has a responsibility to ensure that our football is properly run for the benefit of the people and that we take our proper place in the comity of nations. We cannot continue this way. We just must make progress and it is up to government, who is the biggest investor in football, to take measures that would ensure that the game is run properly, which in turn, leads to better results, unlike the show of shame that we saw in South Africa”, said Toro.