Senate Passes NFF Bill

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Bill 2017, has been passed by the Senate after third reading. Sen. Obinna Ogba, who sponsored the Bill, presented the report of the Committee on Sports and Youth Development before the passage.

Speaking during the presentation, Ogba, explained that it had become imperative to repeal the present law guiding activities of football in the country in view of controversies surrounding its implementation.

He stated that the passage of the bill would settle the problem of litigations that has bedevilled the football body in the country as issues regarding the NFF would now be handled by the Court of Arbitration and not regular courts.

He said: “It has become necessary to repeal the Extant Act. This is because it requires a lot of amendments to bring it into agreement with FIFA required international best practices. It is to give the desired boost it requires.

“The Bill has no financial implication because it is only seeking for a change in the name of the football body in order to achieve greater and better results in future.

“It seeks to ensure that only those who are actually involved in competitive football matches are members of the Federation and not just organisations and establishments as contained in the extant act.

“The bill also makes provision for the election of a President to lead the Executive Committee as against the existing law where the governing body of the association is a board appointed from different organisations.

“It further seeks to ensure mandatory systematic development of football through institutional, age and gender competitions.

“Also, the bill makes provision for development of coaches and referees to enable them participate in international competitions,’’ he said.

The bill will also take care of funding, which has been a perennial problem of football administration in the country.