Director Science & Tech Bows Out

By Ngozi Dike-Nkemjika

It was a moment of heart-felt expressions, appreciations and encouragements amidst mixed feelings among the staff of the Department of Science and Technology last week, as the out-going Director, Mrs. Rosemary Umana formally hands over the mantle of departmental leadership to the most senior Deputy Director in the Department- Mrs. Christie Ibrahim.

Mrs. Umana who has served in various capacities in the education sector of the FCT became the Director of the Department of Science and Technology in year 2012. She has contributed immensely to the development and advancement of education especially in the Federal Capital Territory through her numerous policy initiatives.

Out-going Director, Mrs. Umana (Right) hands over to Acting Director, Mrs. Christie Ibrahim

Better described as a dogged-spirit Director, she has left a popular slogan of “we can do it” on the lips and hearts of all the staff that have worked with her. Mama, as she is fondly called by all the staff of the department was not just an official boss but one woman who has displayed more of motherly love through prayers, counseling and care to all the staff.

The new Acting Director, Mrs. Christie Ibrahim who took over the seat of leadership was not new in the affairs of education sector. Before she took over, she was a Deputy Director in charge of Science, Technical and Vocational Education-STVE in the Department. As a former principal of one of the science schools under the Department, she is indeed familiar with the school activities and effective ways of achieving academic excellence.

In her remarks immediately after taking over, she expressed deep appreciation to the out-going Director for having given her the opportunity to learn a lot under her leadership. While promising to do her best in moving the department to greater heights, she prayed for God’s wisdom, total support and team work among the staff.

Mrs. Christie Ibrahim is the 3^rd helmsman of the Department since its creation under the Education Secretariat on 23^rd of February, 2009.

NNL may lose Bet9ja sponsorship

Kunle Soname, owner of Bet9Ja & Remo Stars

If the news filtering in is anything to go by, then the Nigerian National League, NNL might lose its sponsorship deal come next year.

A reliable source told our correspondent that the sponsor of the league, who incidentally is the owner of Remo Stars Football Club of Ijebu-Ode, Kunle Soname might pull out of the deal.

According to information made available to our correspondent, the deal signed between NNL and Soname revealed that he will pull out of the deal if his team is relegated to the lower league (NNL).

The reason we gathered is because the sponsor of the league cannot run a club in the same league because of fear of favouritism.

His words, “I pity the NNL, because they will definitely lose the sponsorship deal of Bet9Ja

Soname with Remo Stars supporters

. There is no way Remo Stars will be relegated and Soname will continue sponsoring the league. The only way the sponsorship deal can continue is if Remo Stars escape relegation.”

Meanwhile, in a telephone interview with Hotline News, the NNL media officer, Amar Ignis said the owner of Remo Stars is separate from the owner of Bet9Ja and it is the owner that will determine whether he wants to continue sponsoring  the league or not.

“Yes, Kunle Soname is the owner of Remo Stars and he is also the owner of Bet9Ja but the owner has been separated from the company. It is left for the owner of Bet9Ja to continue with the sponsorship or not, it won’t affect Remo Stars’ participation in the NNL if they found themselves in the league.”

Remo Stars Football Club is a Nigerian Premier Football League, NPFL side. It is presently at the bottom of the NPFL league.

Playing in China is better than warming bench in England

A.U. Mustapha

Former chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF Electoral Committee, AbdulAkeem Uthman Mustapha said it is better than for players to be playing regularly in China and other leagues than warming the bench in England and other big clubs in the world.

He made this disclosure recently in his office in an exclusive interview with a group of journalists with Hotline News’ correspondent in attendance.

Mustapha who is a lawyer and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN said wherever a player plays does not really matter, the most important thing is that the player is playing regularly and can deliver. It is better for a player to be playing in the Chinese league regularly than sitting on the bench in the English Premier League.

He stated, “I think we are 170 million Nigerians and we need just 11 players plus eight or nine players. I think the starting point is wherever the player is or wherever he is playing, any player that can deliver and is relevant should be brought into the team in respect of where the player is playing.”

He continued, “Whether we like or not, the future of football belongs to Asia. The Chinese league will be the best league in the world very soon. They have the resources and they have the capacity. In England, you see stadium of 70,000 to 80,000 capacity, very soon we will see stadium of 350,000 capacity and that tells you something.

“The Chinese have the passion and they are turning to sports and football now. So the fact that somebody is playing in China should not be a minus for the person as it were. It is better you play competitive football in the Chinese league than for you to be warming the bench in England it doesn’t add up,” he noted.

Barrister Mustapha in his regalia

On Nigeria’s next match against Cameroon, Barrister Mustapha said the loss to South Africa is a wake-up call and a blessing in disguise. “I have watched Cameroon for almost two week, I watched all their matches and I think they are better prepared because they have played competitive matches and the understanding among the players will be much more better and they need those grade A matches to prepare them for the world and nation cup qualifiers. Having said that, I believe we have a very good team and a very good coach and the administrators that can take us there.”

“The loss to South Africa I believe is something like a blessing in disguise. But before then, there was this complacency amongst us that we have qualified and all the remaining matches are mere formalities to the extent that it is happening at the early stage of the qualifiers. I think it is a wake-up call for us, if everybody works together, we know where we are now and we know what it takes to take us there. I think we can make it,” he concluded.

Proper record keeping, technology will stop age cheat - Akinwunmi

Barr. Akinwunmi

Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi is the first Vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF. He spoke with NEW HUNTERS EDITOR, CHRIS ONOKPEGU on what the NFF is doing to stop age cheat amongst other things.

Sir, we want to commend you for the good job you are doing concerning youth development but what are you doing concerning age cheat because investigation has revealed that the last NPFL/La Liga league that just took place was marred by age cheat. Players older than 15 years participated for clubs because they want to win the maiden edition of the tournament.

Thank you for the commendation. I don't want to comment about any particular tournament but at the NFF Youth Committee, we do our utmost to screen the players in our tournaments and check their birth certificates, cross check the answers to specific questions etc. I assure you we are winning the battle but you will agree that it will take time and a lot of mental restructuring in our nation and in our football to totally eradicate the minority who have refused to stop the attempt to cheat. Over the next few years both proper record keeping and technology will help deal with this unpleasant event of cheating

You will agree with me that there are so many talented players in the country, are you working with the coaches to help scout them out from the grassroot?

As you know, Grassroot football is majorly within the purview of the State Football Associations, FA. I can confidently say we at the Lagos FA are doing our utmost and are succeeding because we have a good relationship with our State Coaches Association, I also know that many of my colleagues do the same. However I think that the National Coaches Association needs to do more although I recognise some of their constraints.

If yes, what type of programme is being prepared for the coaches to teach the players and from what age category are you considering for players to be scouted?

We need to get the coaching structure right in Nigeria. First is to understand that Youth Coaching is a socialised field within the sphere of coaching. The second is that we at the State FA’s need to encourage Grassroots coaches within our jurisdiction to come forward for training and probably local certification as a start. We can then take it from there. The NFF will then take it from there. The issue of age at which player should be scouted is a function of the education and training of the Youth Coaches because the younger the players the more at risk they are with untrained coaches.

So many football academies are scattered across the country, do the NFF know them and their programmes (what they teach the kids) or the age categories of the players in these academies because so many of them have old players in their fold?

The NFF does not know all the academies nor can it know them. A few years ago, requirements for registration of Academies were set but it has not worked. In my opinion we should encourage the ones who meet the criteria with incentive enough for the others to want to register. This is cheaper and will certainly be more effective than trying to shut down those who don't register. If for example we rule that only players from recognised tournaments and recognised academies will be eligible to play for our youth teams, there will be a clamour to register I'm sure. Also if we have an Academies tournament with prize money you will find many academies coming out of the woodwork to register.

Facilities are one of the major problems hindering the discovery of talented players in the country, what is the NFF doing to help out?

The NFF is somewhat handicapped in that area as it not in charge of facilities in the various States and by virtue of the Land Use Act, ownership of land resides in the individual State Governors.

So many young Nigerian players outside the country are playing for other countries, do you have what it takes to monitor them and what have you put in place to encourage them to play for their fatherland?

This particular NFF has been doing a lot in this regard and it's already yielding results, Leon Balogun and Troost-Ekong are already stalwarts in the heart of our defence and there are many more coming but they must compete with our locally grown players.

Unlike their male counterparts, there are no female academies in the country, what are you doing to encourage people to go into that or better still take the game to the secondary schools where the likes of Ann Chiejine and others were discovered?

Again a lot of that work is to be done by the State FA’s, at the NFF we are trying hard to support the improvement of the Female league so that the young Female footballers can have genuine aspirations. Also we intend this year to also have the National U15 Tournament incorporation with the girls as well as the boys.

You have trained so many coaches in CAF courses, but many of them who are supposed to handle grassroot players are handling bigger teams while majority of them concentrate on male players, what are you doing to encourage them to manage their female counterparts?

When the Female football grows to where it should be, there will be a natural gravitation in that direction.

Well done sir for bringing another Clemens Westerhof in the person of Gernot Rohr, you gave the coach a condition to qualify the Super Eagles for the world cup or get sacked, how true is this?

I am not aware of such condition but that certainly is our (and his) target.

If it is true, why are you not considering building a team for the future or is it because we did not qualify for past tournaments?

We are. Look at the average age of the Super Eagles today.

Congratulations for the new deals you just signed. Now that we have a new sponsor, are you going to be paying players, coaches and officials immediately after every match or is it still going to be the usual way of putting their pay together before making payment?

Players, coaches and officials will be paid as agreed.

Lastly, we don’t have archive of players that have played for the national teams in the past, what is the NFF doing to ensure that the upcoming players or generation get to know these players? Some countries and clubs have libraries where these are stored in form of printed magazine, video cds, etc. Do you have such plans?

Yes we recognise the importance of these and yes we do have such plans. We already document more than was done in the past but a lot more needs to be done.