President Bola Tinubu has ordered an immediate and comprehensive reform of Nigerian football following a turbulent string of failures that saw the country’s national teams repeatedly miss out on major international competitions.
The sweeping presidential directive was issued on Thursday, just hours after the top leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) stepped down en masse amid intense public pressure and mounting frustration over the deteriorating state of the national sport.
The NFF officially confirmed the mass resignations in a statement released on Thursday afternoon.
The federation stated that NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau, General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi, and members of the Executive Committee chose to resign to clear the path for a thorough and orderly institutional overhaul.
Announcing the directive from the presidency, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, emphasized that the intervention aims to rescue Nigerian football from its recurring inability to qualify for crucial regional, continental, and global tournaments.
President Tinubu directly linked the persistent decline of the nation’s most beloved sport to deep-seated structural weaknesses.
He noted a stark contrast with other athletic disciplines in the country, which have recently recorded notable progress following the successful restructuring of the sports sector under the re-established National Sports Commission.
Detailing the scope of the mandate, Tinubu stressed that the upcoming transformation must address long-standing systemic issues.
“The reform must respond to a longstanding need to strengthen governance, administration, stakeholder representation, development pathways, domestic competitions and accountability across Nigerian football,” the President stated, adding that the sport’s structural deficits have severely hampered its vast potential despite immense public support and national investment.
