President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has confirmed that world governing football body FIFA has cleared England-born player Ovie Ejaria to play for Nigeria.
Ejaria had since committed his international future to Nigeria after playing for England at the youth levels.
The Reading FC midfielder has not gotten his wish as FIFA has approved his move.
This is according to NFF boss Pinnick who told The Punch' "Ovie Ejaria has been cleared by FIFA to play for us (Nigeria), that I can confirm to you."
Ejaria once he trained with the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria in 2013 but went on to play for England at the U20 and U21 levels.
The 22-year-old who was once signed to Liverpool in 2014 was part of the England team that won the FIFA U20 World Cup in 2017.
The midfielder who now plays in the Championship side Reading will join a host of players who were born abroad but later committed to play in Nigeria.
The likes of Alex Iwobi (although born in Nigeria), Ola Aina, William Troost-Ekong all played at the youth levels for European countries before they switched allegiance.
Belgian-born Cyriel Dessers was invited to the Super Eagles of Nigeria after switching his allegiance.
The NFF under Amaju Pinnick have been making efforts to persuade these types of players to switch their allegiances to Nigeria to increase the talent pool for national team managers.
It has, however not been all success stories. Chelsea stars Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori all rejected the appeal to switch their allegiance to Nigeria and have since made their England debuts.