The Phrase “changing the narrative” is a very productive and positive words which simply means to change the way one looks at things or life in general.
This was exactly the message of the President of the Nigeria Football Federation Ibrahim Gusau when he was privileged to declare open the Nigeria Premier Football League Retreat for staff in Abuja .
Gusau’s careful choice of words during the retreat has once again underscore his pragmatic and action packed approach to his own leadership style.
Like what many might have observed, the NFF President is a man of few words but often times those words are laced with vast positive multiplier effects in terms of deliverables.
The NFF boss said it is very cardinal to his board’s vision for Nigerians and followers of the domestic league to change the way they see the country’s league in terms of quality , infrastructure, organisation and officiating.
It is therefore no coincidence that the present NFF board under the leadership of Gusau is ensuring there is a peaceful and cordial working relationships among the various league bodies and the Football House.
“For me everything starts with a united house because if we are in crises as a football family we can’t achieve much,” Gusau stated.
It is therefore no surprise the kind of gradual positive changes we are beginning to witness in the various league bodies, starting with the Premier League.
Now the league is back on Television and for the very first time that I can remember in my years of covering Nigerian football , the League body had a staff retreat.
The retreat is a testimony to how things are begining to change in the league and the NFF President used the opportunity to charge the leadership of the league to have more of such retreat and even extend it to the clubs.
Gusau maintained that such retreat must be taken to the various Premier League clubs where clubs security officials and secretaries will attend as part of ways to curb some of the challenges bedeviling the league during matches.
The NFF boss also highlighted why the issues of bad officiating is gradually reducing because his board is not taking less seriously the punishment of erring referees.
He insisted that this is the reason why any referee involved in bad officiating is getting punished almost immediately without delays.
While these are highly commendable is because watchers of Nigeria Football have been calling for such initiatives so that the league can maintain a positive image.
Gusau has also revealed that efforts have started for Nigeria league to witness the usage of the Video Assistant Referee VAR.
Some Nigerian referees will be going for the VAR training with WAFU early next year while discussions are on with both the Egyptian and Moroccan Football Associations to assist with further training as regards our usage of VAR in the Nigeria Premier league.
While the NFF President is trying to change the narrative in the league , he is also doing same with the Country’s Grassroot Football Development especially with the recently concluded FIFA Talent Development scheme Programme held in Abuja.
The scheme which focuses on discovering talents from the grassroots across the states witnessed the participation of all the states Football Associations.
The NFF boss assured that discovering of the next generation of Nigeria Under 17 players will come from Grassroots tournaments put together by this scheme.
It is therefore very important to join hands to support the NFF in achieving her goal of changing the narrative of the Country’s Football.
Michael Obasi, a Sports Affairs Analyst and Journalist wrote from Abuja.
