Every few days, an absolute howler seems to present itself in the football world. This time around, it was the Nigeria Football Federation's turn.
The NFF has found itself in a bizarre predicament of having a national team manager members of the organisation's hierarchy have openly criticised, but not having the funds to pay him, let alone sack him!
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The Super Eagles and their head coach Jose Peseiro came under immense pressure from fans as well as the NFF board after beginning their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in a poor manner during the most recent international break, drawing 1-1 with Lesotho, who are 153rd in the world according to FIFA, in the first match of their campaign.
In their next encounter, not much changed. Nigeria were once again unable to walk away with three points, managing to secure just one point in another 1-1 draw but against Zimbabwe this time. In doing so, the side saw the opportunity to leapfrog Bafana Bafana and claim the top spot in Group C pass them by.
Premier League star and Nigeria international Alex Iwobi was speaking after the match when he alluded to the air travel that took "four hours then another three-hour coach down here which was not easy" playing a role in their failure to earn three points against Zimbabwe.
However, the NFF is now faced with a couple of larger problems: The performances on the field, and issues off the pitch, with a board member saying they're not fond of Peseiro but are unable to do anything about it because they have no funds to relieve him from his current post. The situation they find themselves in is quite a baffling one!
Board member of the organisation Nse Essien highlighted a red flag. He said, according to Politics Nigeria, that it was not the NFF who employed Peseiro and signing his cheques. In fact, no cheques are being signed, according to him.
"The Sports Ministry who employed him were supposed to pay for their salaries. But up till now, nothing has been paid," he stated.
"If we sack the coaches now, who will pay compensation? Not a dime has been paid yet to this coach who earns about $70 000 (R1.2 million) a month.
"We have to respect Jose Peseiro's contract. If we had the money to give to him [as compensation for sacking him], we are going to relieve him. We are not happy."
Funnily enough, it seems as though the manager is not the only one working for free. The Athletic reported earlier this year that members of the Nigeria women's team are often left disappointed as not receiving their bonuses after international tournaments is said to be something that occurs often.
So, the question that needs to be posed is: Why are politicians making critical footballing decisions instead of the people who know arguably a little bit more about the sport?
Selecting a coach is not as straight-forward as just looking at a CV. Some believe that a well-run footballing organisation must have a hierarchy that has an established the style of play they want the team to execute and who can identify the type of manager they can work with to make their vision become a reality. Essentially, their interest and objectives must align. How can those interests align when the people hiring employees for a football team aren't experts in the sports?
For context, the country's current minister of sports development, John Owan Enoh, was appointed in August this year and he has no background in football. According to The Punch, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in sociology from the University of Calabar, graduating in 1988. From 1991 to 1997, he was a lecturer at the university before he got into politics.
Fast-forward to 2015 and he was elected to the senate and served as chairman of the committee of finance. He also owns a farm and reportedly partakes in arable and livestock production. He seems to not be much of a sporty person... unless he has some goal posts on the farm that he utilises when he's not busy trying to get animals to reproduce.
Although it cannot be confirmed if he was involved in the decision-making process prior to Peseiro's appointment, it's an example of the type of people who are usually most involved in ministries: politicians.
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A situation such as this is all too confusing. Ideally, you would like the organisation like the NFF to actually make the footballing decisions, a process that would entail people with a background in football making the decisions that would directly affect the national team. It just makes things simpler. It's like sweating away and toiling for the company you work for but then relying on another company to pay you your wages. Surely it's a recipe for disaster – an absolute howler.
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