Need to invest more on youth development

Barr. Akinwunmi, NFF 1st Vice President

There is no doubt that youth development is the solution to Nigerian football. The effort being put in place so far by the country’s football ruling body, Nigeria Football Federation, NFF is encouraging but more efforts need to be put in place to secure our future.

By Chris Onokpegu

The world football governing body, Federation of International Football Associations, FIFA felt that was need for ageing players to be replaced to avoid a vacuum in the senior teams hence it organises junior competitions so that players discovered can graduate to the senior national teams.

Nigeria, as one of the football association members of FIFA keyed into the policy, did not only qualify for the various world cup tournaments but also saw players graduating into the senior national teams.

Not forgetting in a hurry players like Jonathan Akpoborie, Nduka Ugbade, Kanu Nwankwo, Jay-Jay Okocha, Joseph Yobo, John Mikel Obi amongst others and recently, the likes of Kelechi Iheanacho, Wilfred Ndidi, Kayode Olarenwaju as new additions.

The way and manner Nigeria dominated the junior world tournaments; one would have expected that the Super Eagles would also dominate the world at the senior level with the array of stars that graduated from the junior cadre, but did not happen.

Only few of them lasted in the senior national teams and it is one of the reasons why Nigeria did not do well at the senior tournaments. Apart from the impact by the likes of Kanu Nwankwo, Jay Jay Okocha when they won the 1996 Olympic Gold medal and also got to the second round of the FIFA senior World Cup, the dominance has not been felt much even at the continental level.

What could have happened, where did we get it wrong and how can we correct the problems are the many questions on the lips of Nigerians. Some analysts believe that one of the militating factors is lack of proper development programmes.

Some also attributed it to the use of over-aged players in the past hence many of the players couldn’t graduate to the senior team. They fizzled out after playing the Under 17 competitions even before the Under 20 competitions.

Amaju, NFF President

However, there seems to be a revival in that area as players are not only being discovered at the grassroot level but also groomed; while coaches are also been trained on an annual basis. The introduction and sustenance of the National Under 13 and 15 teams respectively by the NFF is also seen as the best way to go.

On his part, first Vice-President of the NFF, Seyi Akinwunmi, revealed that the first ever Nigeria youth football development policy has been documented. He said the essence of the documentation was to develop the nation’s football from the grassroots, as well as set a direction for youth football.

According to him, “Lack of football development from the grassroots had hindered the growth of the game in recent times. For us in the NFF, we are working very hard on the development of grassroots football. Just yesterday, we had the finals of the Channels International Kids Cup (an NFF Protected Competition), the Principal’s Cup, the Master’s Cup and before then was the King’s Cup.

“Today, we have at least six players of the Golden Eaglets in the Flying Eagles. We are not doing enough but trying hard to set the standard,” he said.

The NFF Technical Committee is doing a good job, they have been able to train more than 300 coaches in various CAF coaching courses in the past two years.

Akinwunmi also has reiterated the need for the football administrators to take youth development serious after the exit of the Flying Eagles from the 2017 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations (AFCON) billed for Zambia.

Flying Eagles crashed out of the CAF Africa U-20 Nations Cup on away goals rule after the two leg encounter ended 5-5. Nigeria had won the first leg 2-1.

The inability of the Under 17 and Under 20 to qualify for the AFCON came as a surprise to many because of the exploits of the team in the world at previous editions.

Meanwhile, Akinwunmi believes that there was need to plan for the future. According to him, “We will look into the key areas of youth development programme to see how we can make amends in future championships.”

Some stakeholders however believe that government and especially the NFF cannot do it alone hence the need for the private sectors to support in youth development. Only few organisations have shown interest in youth development, majority of them usually prefer to associate themselves with the teams after they have made some impact at the world stage, that is, after winning the world cup but they don’t support them whenever they are being scouted, nurtured, or prepared for tournaments.

Their support will go a long way to not only discover more hidden talents but also prepare them for major tournaments and for those that cannot make it to tournaments, they could make a living in local and foreign clubs.

Recall that ex-international, Segun Odegbami was discovered through a youth development programme. Odegbami who is the Chief Executive Officer, Worldwide Sport, and Coordinator of the Shell cup competition, said “We did not have problem in terms of age cheating… We also want them to continue with their education which is the key to any achievement in life because I am also a product of developmental programme like this.”

The recent partnership between the Nigeria Football Federation and some organisations will also help youth football development and capacity building programmes. Akinwunmi, who is the chairman of the Youth Football Committee said, “We have a holistic Future Generation Plan, which is aimed at engendering a pool of talented young men and women for all categories of the National Teams at all times. Today, everybody talks about the Senior National Team. That should not be so. We want to create a situation whereby people will also talk about grassroots and youth competitions.

NFF President Amaju Pinnick also stated recently that apart from capacity building programmes for all workers in football, the youth development program is the next big commitment of the present NFF administration.

It is said in the local parlance that, “When you know the cause of a problem, it is as good as half-solved.” The fact that the NFF through its Youth Football Committee chairman knows the problem facing youth development, then it is problem-solved. However, there is need for the NFF to work with School Sports Federation of Nigeria, SSFN to ensure that football is part of the school curriculum.

Secondly, from time to time, competitions should be organized for schools while the NFF should deploy grassroot coaches to scout out the talented ones.

Thirdly, the NFF should not focus only on Under 13 alone, discovering them at tender age say, Under 5 would be a better option. The likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo were discovered at tender age but this can only be achieved if the private sectors/organisations support the projects. If kids are discovered at tender age, basic techniques like passing, shooting, heading, etc would no longer be taught at national teams but rather coaches will focus more on tactics.

Fourthly, the NFF should look into the activities of football academies in the country; provide them with programmes so that they don’t teach wrong techniques and if possible let’s have a playing style right from the academy, grassroot level, this will reduce the workload on the coaches at the national teams.

Fifthly, more attention should also be given to female football especially at early stage, say in the primary and secondary level for easy nurturing.

Lastly, trained coaches should be fully engaged by sending them to all the nooks and crannies of the country to scout for hidden talents. They can be placed on stipends; this will reduce or eliminate screening at the national teams. By engaging them, you are creating employment for them and also discovering quality players, the effects will be enjoyed by the NFF and the country because Nigeria will not only do well at the senior level because of players’ surplus but the country will get more foreign currency from the transfer of players to clubs abroad.