By Jacob Ajom
Former deputy director in the national sports commission, Tijani Yusuf who is gunning for the chairmanship of the Nigeria Football Association has said that his immediate task, if voted into office, would be the revitalisation of the technical department of the football house.

Always where it is happening, Tijani Yusuf, second right at a sporting event. He wants to be NFA chairman

In a five-point agenda, made available to our sports desk, the former NFA scribe described the technical department as  “the power house”, which would among other things bring back youth and school football programmes in conjunction with the Nigerian School Sports Federation, Nigeria University Games Association, Nigeria College of Education Games Association, Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria and the Pepsi Football Academy, among other relevant institutions.

He also disclosed that youth football academies would be streamlined while there would be a deliberate policy on indigenous coaches as well as engaging the services of competent sports psychologists for the national teams,
Issues such as players’ welfare and following FIFA’s calendar for international friendly matches would also be on the front burner under his administration.

Yusuf’s regime would also “pursue aggressive marketing in order to be self-dependent of government.
His agenda also include administrative/structural overhaul as he promised ”clinical changes to be at par with modern secretariat functions”.

Aware of the demands of modern Nigeria where transparency and accountability are the watch words, the former NFA scribe said, “in order to restore confidence of Government, cooperate world and the general public, due process and financial regulation will strictly be adhered to.

On his Project Change 2010 slogan, Yusuf said, “I have a vision and a mission in order to move Nigerian football to an enviable position.

“To build virile national football teams that have the philosophy of serving the nation on  and off the pitch and set up a sound technical department that will transform the game to a world standard which will be appreciated in Nigeria and beyond.”

As an insider, Yusuf believes to chart a new course for Nigerian football, one must first understand its antecedents. “Its of paramount importance to look at problems holistically rather than one or two, by so doing the challenges facing the performance and development of the game will be tackled head-long.”

He took an indepth look into funding, which he said he would provide  an answer  through aggres-sive marketing. He believes government intervention which has been acknowledged as the clog in the wheel of NFA progress would be minimised.