The National Sports Commission (NSC) has expressed commitment to working with all stakeholders in advancing improved officiating in the domestic football league.
This was a fall-out of a meeting the NSC Chairman Shehu Dikko had with the Nigeria Referees Association (NRA) President Sani Zubairu.
In Dikko’s reckoning, the referees are cardinal to developing the domestic league.
His words, “We are placing so much emphasis on growing our local contents.
The great Pele once said that a country’s national team is as good as the league. So whatever we are doing globally in football, what rubs off directly on our economy is the domestic league
“We are working on strategies in evolving the sports economy and the league is paramount to that goal as one of the critical drivers in jumpstarting the domestic sports industry.
“We are measured by the success of our league. So we will be very deliberate on improving every facet of the league and are ready to engage all stakeholders on this objectives.”
He continued, “The officiating is key to having the quality of league we are craving for. This is why occasional interface with the NRA is very necessary. We have to know how we can support to boost officiating in the league and what enablers needs to be in place.
“It is important to know their present challenges and how we can come in. Of course, in doing this, we have to collaborate with the NFF, the parent association and regulator of football in Nigeria”
“Indeed, during my time with the league I did work very closely with NRA and supported a lot of the referees developmental programs and even branding through provisions of official uniforms and other logistics to make their jobs better which was quite unprecedented and set standards for the future thus I am quite aware of most of the problems and what needs to be done”
Zubairu pledged NRA’s support in realizing NSC’s dreams for the domestic league.
He said, “So far so good. We will say that our officiating in the league has been so good as we are entering the halfway mark. We have come to meet with the NSC Chairman. He is our overall boss of sports in Nigeria and key member of the family that understands the issues. We have been doing this together over the years”
“I have come to congratulate him and wish him all the best in this new assignment which we all know and believe he is very capable and competent to deliver. The larger group of the NRA association will still come here on a more formal meeting. We will surely collaborate with him to see how far we can help him achieve these big plans he has for our league.
“We know that he is an achiever and we are very sure that he will not fail. He is our boss and he knows what is good for us with all his experience from the league, Federation, CAF and FIFA.”
