Sports Minister tasks Nigerian Referees to deepen capacity for greater participation in FIFA/CAF flagged Competitions
Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh on Wednesday tasked Nigerian referees to deepen and strengthen their professionalism in order to attract greater participation in FIFA and CAF flagged competitions.
Speaking during his interactive session with the 2024 FIFA Member Association Refereeing Development Course, the minister regretted that Nigerian referees are not playing critical roles in both FIFA and CAF flagged competitions as a result of failure to reach the performance and professional threshold set out by both international bodies.
Describing the situation whereby Nigerian referees are neglected and relegated to the background in the perking order by FIFA and CAF as unacceptable, he said that the current administration would do everything within its powers to reverse this ugly trend.
The Minister stated that his engagement with the referees was part of ongoing efforts by him to get to the root of the problem and proffer solutions to solve the problem.
He recalled that at inception as minister, one of the early engagements that he initiated was to invite referees and critical stakeholders in sports for a parley when his attention was drawn to the fact that no Nigerian referee was considered qualified enough to officiate in the just concluded CAF flagged African Cup of Nations.
‘I thought that this was unacceptable. It was for this reason that I started series of engagements with Referee Associations, the NFF and other critical stakeholders. Sadly, even in the next AFCON, no Nigerian referee was listed to participate in officiating duties by CAF. This is a shame. As a country, it is important that we get right things that we are not doing right to change this ugly narrative,’ Enoh said.
He challenged the elite referees to raise the bar in terms of their commitment to improving their professionalism adding that government is ready to support and work closely with them to put an end to this neglect.
