It is never easy for one to be saddled with responsibilities of managing a body or organization of any kind in a country.
If it is football, the task becomes tougher due to the fact that it is a sport a lot of people follow, invest in and are still investing into.
No leader, generally speaking, wants to go into management, leadership or administration with no intention to succeed.
So, it is true if one says the previous administrators of football in this country have tried no matter how little to help curb or reduce the challenges lurking around the corridors of football in Nigeria.
Hence, this write up is to remind Mr. Ibrahim Musa Gusau, the President of the Nigeria Football Federation those challenges they wish to tackle, urging them to be conscious, concerted and tactical in their efforts to reduce to the barest minimum or eliminate completely these challenges in Nigeria football.
The first issue, though it may seem insignificant, is the practice of having the NFF president been involved all that concerns the federation. He is literally the only one in the glasshouse.
Yes, the President is the image of the federation, but the practice of having everything revolve around the President has made it difficult for accountability to strive in our football.
We need to know who and who is holding what office and they should be visible to be held accountable for whatever happens in that office.
For years, it seems no other office or role in the NFF works as personalities in these offices are neither seen nor heard because their functionality is far fetched.
It is in Nigeria that the NFF head is well known to the public, but barely do the people know who majority of the league players are.
On the national teams, it is high time we have a structure to define what we want and what type of football we want to play as a nation from the senior to the junior teams.
Having a body or a structure to define our style of football and deciding what is to be achieved in a short or long term will go a long way to helping us achieve great success and help put square pegs in square holes when we appoint who coaches the the male or female national teams.
On the Junior teams; the U-13, U-15, 17, 20, there should be a plan for the teams. In fact, it is not about tagging these teams as developmental teams for developmental tournaments, but doing enough to show they are indeed for the future.
Institutions need to be created to see to these junior events where the development, management, coaching of these players in these cadres are taken care of.
The plan will also see to the transition of the players from one level another till they reach the senior levels.
It has been said and reported for years that the NFF is financially constrained and these have hindered a lot of the progress of the game.
It's time the image, marketability and viability of the NFF is restored, strengthened and sustained so the federation sells itself to potential sponsors.
A situation where transparency is upheld can woo private bodies or individuals to trust and the federation financially.
On the part of the league, an interim body has been created and I wish that even as this body has been given terms of reference, the body should be transformed into a body that will put the right structures in place to advance the league in the long run.
I can feel an air of greatness about to be achieved with this administration led by Alhaji Gusau and I can only hope that our football will begin to take the right shape soon than we can ever imagine.
By Uche Dozie