Former Super Eagles forward, Daniel Amokachi, has told the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, the real problem of Nigeria football.
Amokachi believes the NFF will continue to move in circles until the federation fixes the major defects in the country’s football system.
He said the NFF focuses too much on coaching, adding that it is like building a house and starting from the roof downwards instead of starting with the right foundation.
The NFF had recently announced that Augustine Eguavoen stepped down from his role as interim coach of the Super Eagles following Nigeria’s failure to qualify for this year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar after losing an away goal to the Black Stars of Ghana in March this year.
The NFF is presently in the process of searching for a new head coach that will manage Nigeria’s national team.
The NFF is close to appointing former Cameroon head coach, Antonio Conceicao, to take charge of the national team.
The federation announced new assistant coaches for the team on Thursday, with the position of head coach still vacant.
But Amokachi believes coaches will not solve the team’s problems, insisting that larger structural issues affecting football in the country need attention.
“Focusing too much on coaching is like building a house from the roof downwards instead of starting with the right foundation and building upwards,” Amokachi told BBC Sport Africa.
“Do we have a solid developmental programme for our young footballers, a proper long-term plan for our national teams, or develop a football identity for the game in our country?
“I am a product of the Nigerian league. But have we sorted out all the issues around our domestic game, from players’ welfare to the lack of television rights and the chaos around the organisation of local football.
“I said something about our over-reliance on Nigerian footballers in the diaspora, which was misreported in the media.
“My point is that when you consistently rely on players developed and trained by other nations to play for you, then you have seriously failed in your important role of building the future stars.
“There are bigger issues that have long bedevilled the Nigerian game and until we fix them, we will just be moving in a circle.”
