a panacea to the fallen standard of sports in Nigeria – Onigbinde
- The reminiscence of an exclusive interview with the two-time former Nigerian Super Eagles’ Coach 7 years ago still captures the quagmires in the sports sector of Nigeria, especially in the football management mafia of the country.
- When will anything work in Nigeria’s sports system; how long will it take us in Nigeria to have a structured system in place in all sectors?
It has ever been in Nigeria that you can continue to do the same thing same way and “desirously” anticipating a changed result! Whether you do 2+3 or 3+2, you always have 5, addition is always known to be commutative. And this commutativity has been the main disguise being engaged by different sectors and governments to bamboozle the countrymen and women in Nigeria. Tell the government the security is loose; the media aides will come on air and announce the drift of different military personnels to the scene of the incident, next time they will take it from another angle and on and on like that, the reason the security breach will continue unabated. Same thing same way! Why can’t the government simply make use of technology, like using satellite or even ordinary drones to track the dens of the terrorists, bandits and kidnappers? Why is it that until they strike that the military are drifted to the scene? Why are we always on the defensive? Why same thing same way?
This same ruse has been adopted by all the sectors and parastatals in the country, sports sector not exempted. Whenever a huge bonus is released by the federal government to the patriotic footballers who are painstakingly committing their lives to the cause of Nigeria on the field, it’s either you hear that a ghost or lion has swallowed the money in the glass house or the power that be changes the narrative totally that the money is only meant for the NFF, not the players and so on. Let the whole world tell the NFF that a foreign coach being proposed for the national team with such an outrageous salary is not worth it based on the fact that he doesn’t have any track record, you are all on your own, that is who they are employing, it always comes with a code unknown to you and I. Same thing, same way; yet you will be praying for victory and permutating foolishly when things are getting out of hand in any tournament.
The foregoing and many more anti-progress actions bedevilling the sports system in Nigeria led us to the sports maestro and father figure in the history of Nigerian football (since seven years ago with virtually nothing changes till date) – Chief Adegboye Onigbinde who was the first indigenous national coach of the then Nigerian Green Eagles, now known as Super Eagles. He was a two-time head coach of the said national team – 1983 – 85 and 2002; He served, not only as a Technical Instructor, but also as a Member of the Technical Committees of both Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) (1988-2013).
A diehard advocate of grassroots sports developmental system, who had at a point in his career prepared a junior team by the same ideology as a foreign coach in Trinidad and Tobago with outstanding results (1998-2001) – laying the foundation for that country’s first and only appearance at the FIFA World Cup Finals in Germany in 2006. Chief Adegboye Onigbinde is a professional par excellence and no-nonsense octogenarian who believes absolutely in hands-on field work.
Come along in this all revealing exclusive interview with this sage as you are taken through his myriad of experiences on soccer as viewed globally and seen in the Nigeria’s context; sport administration and politicking; Problems of Nigerian football system; proffered solutions and many more. Excerpt:
MM: For the benefit of the younger generation and few others who might not know; we would like to meet you briefly sir.
Chief: Well, I am Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, a full trained school teacher; I was in teaching for about 20 years before I became a full-time football coach in 1974. And since then, one has gone through a lot of assignments rising to the position of FIFA and CAF technical instructor and member of their technical committees. Even, in Nigeria here, one has achieved a little; in the days of old Western Region/State, I worked with several leading clubs; which included being in and out of Shooting Stars seven times. Eventually in 1983, after a rigorous process, I became the first Nigerian to be fully employed to handle the Nigerian National Football Team – the Green Eagles then.
MM: You mean the first indigenous Coach?
Chief: Yes, first indigenous coach. And how did it happen? In 1982, the national team collapsed as a result of poor performance at the 1982 African Cup of Nations in Libya. The resultant sharp disagreement between the players and football authorities led to the disbandment of the team, as a result of which ALL the key players walked away from the team. Unfortunately, it was at this point that the football authorities and the Government of Nigeria decided to perform an experiment as to whether or not an indigenous coach could handle the national team. Previously, there had been Nigerian coaches standing in for their foreign bosses as occasions warranted.
Advertisement for this position was placed towards the end of 1982. Initially, I was reluctant to apply, because, knowing what operated in Nigerian then – and with the prominence of some of my colleagues nationwide – I thought I didn’t have the big powers to back me up into the position. It was my colleagues in the then Western State, who gave me the courage – and virtually forced me to submit my application a day after the closing date.
Eventually, out of over sixty applicants – I understood, I was one of the seven lucky ones shortlisted for interview at the end of which I placed first with 84% while the man next to me scored 65%. Even after my name was announced, some big powers still went into serious efforts to change the situation. Fortunately, the sustaining argument from the government level was that it was an experiment to see whether a Nigerian could do the job, and to be sure of the success or failure of the experiment, the best candidate must be selected. If the best failed, then it would be concluded that no Nigerian could do the job. That was what gave me the job.
Eventually, these big powers, after failing to stop my appointment, promised to support me. Part of the very strong support they gave me was not being given necessary equipment from January when I took over, till December, 1983 when the military came into power. I went about begging for balls; among the donors was the Oyo State Sports Council, Ibadan, from where I was on secondment.
MM: Begging for ball in what sense, begging to take part in matches or what?
Chief: Equipment for training, of course I didn’t have new set of jerseys, anytime we had a match, I had to go to the junks room to look for look-alike jerseys.
MM: The national team?
Chief: The national team, the national team! And you won’t be surprised sometimes some of my players would wear long sleeve shirts while some would wear short sleeves. At a time I asked for thirty balls because I used to have not less than thirty players in my camp. The then Chairman, a gentleman, reprimanded me for requesting for more than one or two balls. He invited me into his office and said: “You see, we are trying to give you Nigerian coaches a chance, look at what you are doing, have you ever seen a place where they play more than a ball at a time? I can understand you asking for two balls, what do you want to do with thirty balls?” He didn’t mean any ill, only that he did not understand what the thirty balls were meant for.
In coaching a technique, no player can claim mastery until it has become part of his reflex, where he doesn’t need to think of what to do under any circumstances. And that is what happens in football, each player must be made to practice any technique until it becomes part of his reflex, when he would not need to think before applying the technique.
Now, you have your team mate in front of you, you are in the possession of the ball, you want to give the ball with a push pass but suddenly an opponent comes around, your team mate is calling you at the back, “give me the ball”, in Nigerian football, the player will now have to turn around and round and round and round to face the player, the team mate that is calling. By the time he turns around, the person calling would have been marked. But if you had mastered all the basic techniques of ball release, you can heel the ball to him or flick it with the side of the foot to your team mate on the right or roll it with the sole of your foot. But if you have not been trained in all these basic techniques how would you do it? And now if you are talking about a particular technique with your thirty players, and you have one ball; you are teaching heading, when one heads one, it may take another 30 minutes before it comes to him, how does perfection come…? (laughs). You see, I am just telling you some of the things I went through, and I thank God. I started work I think on the 27th of January, 1983, and within three weeks, precisely on the 18th of February, I had to play a friendly against Egypt in Lagos, so I had to plan my priorities and eventually we played a draw. Two days later we were to play another match against Egypt in Kano which also ended in a draw.
MM: Draw? What kind of draw please?
Chief: Yes, it also ended in a draw, 1-1. There were series of such achievements, in about October, 1983; for the first time, I took Nigeria to Accra to beat Ghana on their ground; I took the team to Morocco, beat them on their ground, and we eventually qualified for the African Cup of Nation which came up in March 1984. By the time we left Nigeria (for the tournament), not many Nigerians gave us a chance of emerging from the group level, because even when I started, I told you earlier on, by ’82 all the key players in the team abandoned the team. When I came in January, it was as going to pick players from the streets into the national team!
MM: And it worked out?
Chief: Yes, it worked out! That was what gave Keshi, may his soul rest in peace, that was what gave him the captainship, because he was about the most noticeable player in the team…
MM: So he didn’t go with the other key players that left the team?
Chief: He was not even there, he was just coming from the junior level, if people like Odegbami, Amesi Emeka had remained in the team, how could Keshi have become the captain of the team? (laughs). So, that was the type of things we went through, and eventually at the African Cup of Nation in 1984, our first match was going to be against Ghana, and a lot of Nigerians believed that after that match, we would come back home, but we beat Ghana, second time within five months, we beat them in October, and March again, and I remember it was my birth date; very early in the morning of that march 5, the players came to my door and they were singing; I opened the door, they said “we have come to wish you happy birthday, our present for your birthday today is today’s match, we will win for you.” And they went on and beat Ghana with 2-1! Ghana came with seven professionals (who were) playing abroad in that team; throughout the three years, I did not have one foreign based players in my team, we were all locals! So we eventually won silver at that competition, we came second. And (even) our coming second also have series of questions which I wouldn’t want to go into, except to say that our failure to have won the gold, beating Cameroon was as a result of some manipulations by some Nigerians. So, as I said, I was the first Nigerian to handle the national team and take them to that competition. I came back with silver. That was the highest Nigeria had achieved playing outside Nigeria in that competition – African Cup of Nation. That was the highest Nigeria had won in that competition playing away from home because we won the gold when we hosted the competition in 1980. So, that was how it went. And ironically, in spite of that achievement, the year after winning the cup, I was asked to hand over the team to another coach.
MM: A foreigner I guess?
Chief: No, a Nigerian, Christopher Uduemeze. Nobody had told me till today why I was removed from the team! Was it as a result of failure? At any rate, when I came from Cote d’Ivoire after winning the silver, I did not have a handshake.
MM: When exactly were you asked to hand over the team?
Chief: 1985, some people were pushing me to raise a voice about it, I said no way not in my life. But again, God in his merciful ways… my removal from the team led to my being appointed into CAF technical committee. Because in 1985, that was four years later (after the tournament), the African cup of Nation was being held in Morocco, I was in Nigeria, I was not part of it. That was where Hayatou, Issa Hayatou was elected in the new (CAF) executive (as the president).After his election, he now called his executive members, let us look for people who understand this thing and make consultation. It was a Tunisian…, a Tunisian, who raised it, that what of that man who brought Nigeria to Cote d’Ivoire in 1984? Then they started looking for my name. In fact, by the time they wrote their letter to me, they could not get the spelling of my name right (laughs). What I am saying is this, if I’ve not been removed from the national team, CAF would have said “he is fixed, he cannot have time for us”, but because I was removed (the opportunity offer from CAF could be accepted). So, the person who removed me, did he do me good or bad? That is life for you. I believe that nothing can happen in my life without the approval of the Almighty God. And that is why I tell people that my belief in God is so solid that I don’t believe Satan exists… That was it, I got into CAF technical committee and I became a CAF instructor. About six years later, I suddenly got a letter from FIFA appointing me as a FIFA instructor; I was wondering how, but later I got to know that it was CAF that sent my name, like saying, “oh FIFA look at this one, this one is too much for us o, take this one.” That was how I became the FIFA instructor in 1994 and four years later I was introduced into FIFA technical committee.
MM: So, you were a FIFA instructor for four years and after that you became a member of FIFA technical committee?
Chief: Yes, it’s like doubling the two assignments. Just like the role I played at CAF level. At CAF level, it was the reverse; I was appointed directly into the technical committee and that made me automatically a CAF instructor. Four years later, CAF now sent my name to FIFA and I was appointed a FIFA instructor and after working for four years, FIFA converted it to their technical committee (membership) in 1998. And if you imagine how they operate, the technical sector in any sporting organisation is the life wire. We were planning developmental programmes; I was conducting courses all over the world. When I left the Green Eagles in 1985, I came back to my appointment in Oyo State and I was the head of the coaching department, football coaches, until I retired in 1988. I retired voluntarily in 1988. I was still away on FIFA and CAF assignments, in fact, that was one of the reasons I decided to retire, because I was travelling most of the time. In Africa alone, I must have visited not less than forty countries. And known Nigerians for what we are, the people at home will be saying “what is he earning our salary for”. So I decided to pull out of the civil service in 1988.
Then in 1997, we were in Malaysia for the FIFA junior world cup competition, that was where the then first vice President of FIFA – Jack Warner who came from Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies, he was heading our group in our zone, he organised a dinner for FIFA people. At that dinner, he just said, “Chief, if Nigeria have people like you, why are they going to Europe to look for Coaches.” I just kept quiet. In another ten minutes, he said, “Chief, tell me why you will not come to Trinidad and Tobago to help us.” I kept quiet still. Another Tunisian who was the CAF technical committee chairman, Slim Alulu responded immediately, said “Jack, no, we cannot allow Chief to leave Africa.” We all kept quiet and finished the dinner. Less than two hours after the dinner, I saw a letter of appointment from Trinidad and Tobago in my room, in Malaysia, and they wanted immediate response, I was dodging him. When we got back to Kuala Lumpur after the group stage, Blatter invited me to a meeting and I was wondering what about. When he got in there, he said Jack Warner said he would want you to come to Trinidad and Tobago and you have not responded; he looked at my face, not pleasant, he said, “Chief – Chief – Chief, you know, regard it as part of FIFA developmental programme”, and I was in FIFA technical and development committee. He looked at the face again, because I don’t deceive people – he said okay, “Chief, Chief, you know what, we will send you to West Indies for two months, when you get there, study the situation and take a decision. That was how I ended up October/November in West Indies. I was hopping from one Island to another conducting courses.
MM: When exactly was that sir?
Chief: It was 97 – October. As soon as I landed in the Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, Jack Warner gave me an envelope he said “that is the contract, go round, make your inputs and we discuss when you come back” I went, going … as I said, hopping from one island (to the other), because in West Indies you have like thirty islands, small – small… some of them with less than two hundred thousand people, is a country (laughs). So, when I came back, I now handed the envelope to him and two or three days later, I said, Jack what about the document I gave you? He said what about it…? When are we discussing it? (I asked). He said, what are we discussing? I’ve read what you put into it and I’ve agreed, let us sign now.
MM: You have responded through the letter?
Chief: He asked me to make my inputs from the letter, I did it and I gave it to him, and I was expecting us to sit down to discuss, but he said he had read through and agreed (to) all my inputs, so we should sign. That was how I signed the contract in November, 1997. And we agreed that I would start work in January, 1998. There were some other funny things. When I returned after signing that contract, people got to know about it. Nigeria was to host Junior world cup in ’99, so when I came back, I got information from media that I had been appointed as the chairman of the organising committee. Can you understand that trick?
MM: Perhaps a plan to scuttle the new appointment at Trinidad and Tobago?
Chief: (Laughs awhile in total agreement to Debo’s surmise on the appointment scenario), I was to resume work in Trinidad and Tobago first week in January, 1998, I came back in November 1997, they said they have appointed me as the chairman planning committee. I now said where is the letter, my brother, 1997 up till now – no letter! How many years ago?
MM: 20 years!
Chief: (Laughs) But I stayed in Abuja, I was calling meetings, you know, I knew it was a ruse. So Jack was calling me, “Chief what is happening? I was giving one excuse or the other and I didn’t go to Trinidad and Tobago until April 16, 1998 to assume duties there. Then there was a chairman of the NFA who now queried me as to why I abandoned my duty post; I said which duty post? When was I appointed? Where is the letter of appointment? The only job I abandoned was my job in Trinidad and Tobago which I should have assumed in January, I got in there in April 1998 and we were preparing a team for 2001 under 17 world cup…
MM: Did you just say you were preparing a team going for a match in 2001 from 1998?
Chief: Yes, that was what I said
MM: I am trying to relate the scenario to what is obtainable in Nigeria here… three years interval!
Chief: (General laughter for a moment) Ha! Nigeria case? We will come to that later. Not even three years, four years, 1998 inclusive. So, I prepared a four year programme and I got a pack of under 14 players, under 14! I now told Jack Warner, I said Jack, for one year, don’t ask me for a match he said, “Chief, I can understand, okay, okay, okay” Within six months, the media – Television, newspapers, radio… started shouting, “Chief has been here for almost a year, we cannot see his team.” They invited me on a television programme and they came up with that same question, and I told them I was not preparing the team yet. They were surprised and said, what have you been doing? I said look at this house we are in, when it was being constructed, if care was not taken that the cement, the sand, the … everything, iron rod were not of good quality, this house would have collapsed; I said I was preparing the components of the team. They said okay. In the thirteenth month, we were relaxing in the evening when Jack Warner said, “Chief will your team be ready for a match tomorrow?” I said yes. He said, “No, no, no, if you are not… I said I asked you to give me twelve months, this is the thirteenth month, my team is ready. Against which team? He said against under 16 champions, and my boys were going to under 15 then. I said where? He said on the ground of that team. Okay, what time… 7 o’clock in the morning, let’s meet there. We went in there, we played the match, I was lucky to have escaped defeat because we won the match 14-0! (General laughter). By then, my players, under 15 boys were no longer allowing me to correct them, they were correcting one another… you know, because I have put almost everything into their heads. That’s what I have been preaching in Nigeria. It didn’t end there, the Football Federation (of Trinidad and Tobago) organised an under 22 competition and my team went in, my under 15 boys and we won the cup (an achiever’s laughter). It didn’t end there o, eight years later (even when I had left) for the first time (ever) in 2006, Trinidad and Tobago qualified for the world cup finals; for the first time and only time. Though I had left but you can see the effect of a systematic development. Look at the young boys I took to the world cup in 2002, look at what some of them became. Enyeama is about number 5 goal keeper in the world today. He is number 1 in Africa. Players like Yobo and few others. I am saying all these to thank God and to emphasize the need for functional developmental programme. When I came back (from Trinidad and Tobago), eighteen years after my first deal with the national team, the team broke down again in Mali, the Nigerian Super Eagles broke down again in Mali after the African cup of nation, the team was disbanded, the coaches were sacked and I was invited to come and take over in the interim preparing for the world cup which was coming up in three months time. Three months!
MM: That was when?
Chief: 2002. The competition was in June, 2002.
JC: Sorry, when did you leave Trinidad and Tobago?
Chief: Oh, I left at the end of 2000.
MM: ’98 – 2000…
Chief: Yes, ’98 – 2000. I left because they had their own problem too, it got to a level where I was buying equipment for my players, and my four year programme could not be duly executed. Because in the first four year programme, I’d intended…. I’d planned we would go on tour, starting from the region – Caribbean, then spreading to the Americas, going to Asias; because at the world cup competition in 2001, we were going to meet teams from different parts of the world. But this programme could not be executed up till now.
MM: What did you think could cause that?
Chief: Well, I don’t know, the funding was not coming, and I noticed some other things which had the hands of some Nigerians. So, I had to take over the team within three months. Before the world cup proper, I played seven friendly matches, I won five and drew two, I did not lose one! And the victories included victory over Ireland on their ground; Scotland on their ground in Glasgow; Jamaica came to London, we beat them. But by the time…, oh!… (hisses nostalgically perhaps because of his unpleasant experiences during the time), by the time we got to the world cup proper, one, the short time of preparation affected our coordinated functions, but apart from that, there were suspicions of sabotage, some of the old players who agreed to join the team… (hisses again), otherwise, we could have gotten to the final of that cup that year, 2002. Anyway that has become history. At the end I came back into my room (laughs).
MM: Now your take as a father figure in Nigerian sports sector.
Chief: Am I really?
MM: Yes, you are, for so many reasons and for your past contributions to sports in Nigeria, especially footbll!
Chief: I appreciate you seeing me as that.
MM: That is one of the reasons we are coming up with the innovation of justCAREERS newspaper – magazine, in the vanguard of promoting our career legends, even when they are still alive. Last week Monday by the grace of God, we were there at Ilesa in Osun state for an exclusive interview with the comedy legend – Apostle Moses Olaiya Adejumo, Baba Sala and the same thing was noticed that our legends or heroes are not recognised while alive not to talk of being celebrated. Some of them are just going down the drain unnoticed without any significant touch of the nation while some have died for no just cause, perhaps because their family could not afford the necessary medical bill. We hope to make a paradigm shift on this going forward. So, we recognise you to be a father figure in the field of sports, even if only going by the fact that you were the first indigenous coach for the national team.
Chief: You remember what I said Jack Warner said the first time he approached me at that dinner – “Chief, if Nigeria have people like you, why do they go to Europe?” I understand what you are saying and I appreciate it, even farther than that. How many Nigerians have been to FIFA and CAF technical committees? And FIFA has 213 member nations, and people on that committee are usually less than 20! Unfortunately there is one thing our football administrators (in Nigeria) fail to understand, the full name of that committee is Technical and Development Committee; and should be the same thing at the national level, which means if you want to develop football, that is the area. That was why I said the technical committee, the technical department supposed to be the live wire of any sport organisation.
MM: I will still want to go back to the question on what is your take as sports’ father figure in Nigeria. What do you think could be the panacea for Nigeria’s sporting recession?
Chief: My brother, I am tired of thinking about sports in Nigeria, I am getting tired of thinking, because I’ve thought and thought and thought… and thought … On sports in general, and football in particular, I believe we are joking with sports yet, we have not started ! We came back from Olympics one year and the media were asking me, “Chief why do you think we didn’t perform well” And I said because we didn’t prepare. One of them said, “are you saying we should start preparing for the next Olympics now?” I said it was too late!
MM: Too late?
Chief: Yes. Because the next Olympics would come four years to that time…
MM: And yet you said it was too late to start preparing?
Chief: Yes, too late! Because in countries where sports is taken as a serious matter, the training starts from the age of six. If you now start training a child of six, will he be qualified to go for the next Olympics at the age of ten? (laughs). I said it was late. But in Nigeria we don’t even have developmental programme at all, it’s not there. There used to be some semblance; I remember in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, the big clubs in Nigeria used to draw players from secondary schools. Where are the players in the secondary schools again, where are they? We have some secondary schools in this country without a playing ground as large as my sitting room! And you will agree that does not affect only football – all sports. I went through the systematic teacher training system and I got to know that your education is not complete if it had not developed you mentally, spiritually, socially and physically, the education is not complete! So, what are we doing?
MM: Now, what are the corresponding solutions to these problems?
Chief: That was why I said what I said earlier on, that I am quite getting bored talking about this thing. I sent a paper to the presidency, I think sometime last year…
MM: You mean the present administration?
Chief: Yes. And I said the falling standard of education and sports came as a result of the abolition of teachers training colleges. Those of us who went through the grade III, grade II, grade I teachers courses, we knew that Physical and Health Education was a compulsory subject. If you scored 100% in all other subjects and you failed the Physical and Health Education – no certificate, you have to re-take it in the following year. That was the system. And what was the content of that subject then? They would take us through about dozen or more sports – technicalities, administration, rules and regulations. So, by the time you’re posted in primary school, you’re not an ordinary games-master, you are a full-fledged professional coach in different sports. And in those days, we used to have practical for every class, practical Physical Education at least three times a week; do we have that today? I have about five flats in this (my) building, go to some areas of Ibadan today, you will find five different private schools in same building, no space; so, what are we doing? What type of children are we producing? The same thing affect education, that you have Ph.D. in a particular subject does not mean you can transfer the knowledge. The cancellation of the teacher training colleges meant and still means we don’t have professional teachers anymore. And when you don’t have professional teachers, how do you develop your education? We were in this sitting room, I was discussing with some people, (I gave this illustration) assuming you’re a teacher, you have your pupils in this class and a masquerade is dancing along the street in front of this house with the drumming and everything; what will be the reactions of your pupils? “Oh, they will be stretching their necks to see what it’s all about”, and what will be your reaction? “I will stop them and cane them.” A professional teacher will say, class, stop, let us go out and watch the “egungun”. Can you see the difference? By the time they go out and watch the egungun, they have learnt one or two things, you have increased their knowledge… which may never come again in their life-time. By the time you come back into the classroom, everybody is attentive, they want to listen to what you are teaching, your teaching will become more effective (laughs). I don’t know whether to say I was fortunate or unfortunate to have gone through the systematic teacher training courses… As a teacher, your main assignment is to bring the young ones up with all the attendant problems. Like sometimes in the class, you see your pupils, you classify some of them as idiots, but you cannot abandon them because they are idiots, you have to bring them up. In 1966, I was teaching at a secondary school in Ogbomosho, I had one girl, her name was Sala, if you wrote a question on the black board, you want the class to answer that question, what she would want to do was to copy the question and after attempting to copy the question, you cannot understand what she has written. It is there on the board o! She could not read what she would write. But when we started preparing for inter house sports competition, I discovered that she was beating boys in half a mile and I started encouraging her. The next terminal exam, out of 60 pupils her position was less than 30, because getting her directly involved in sport had brought out the hidden things in her. And that is why I say what type of pupils are we bringing up today (in schools)? We don’t involve them in physical and health education again. By the time I attended my first coaching course in 1961, my aim and intention and target was to make me a better games master, but look at what it had become today.
MM: Where did you attend your first coaching course?
Chief: In Ibadan here. Look at what it has become! So, you can now imagine how many children had been denied their future, because of the way we do our things. And that was the main reason why I said I was becoming frustrated (about Nigerian sports) – FRUSRATED in capital! Because when I look around, I say what is the future of this ones coming behind us, what are we living for? Is it any more worth it being alive in Nigeria? What are you living for? And we are just talking about one issue now – sports, football. Look at other aspects of our National life, where is the future? And the more you talk, if you believe you know, the more enemies you make. And if people are making enemy of you because of what you are saying, where is the evidence that they will change?
MM: Thus we can safely draw an inference from the myriad instances, experiences and practicals you have cited that there are magics behind grassroots developmental sports system, the like of which justCAREERS is taking up. I mean are you establishing that better changes can be effected with developmental sports system?
Chief: I have travelled far and wide; I have not seen a country that is as endowed as Nigeria, in all forms of resources, including sporting activities. But what are we doing with these talents. How are we managing them? That’s the problem. What type of resources has God not given this country? Mineral resources, and we don’t have any natural calamities – earthquake, tornado; so God has pampered us so much that we have become stupid…
MM: Over pampered Nigerians – you mean?
Chief: Yes, over pampered! We can’t think.
JC: Segun Odegbami – the Mathematical, said something of recent, just like corroborating your point on the sustainable developmental programme being advocated, he was sceptical about the fact that Super Eagles could go far with the importation system of players. He was specific about the current situation whereby among the first Nigerian’s eleven players, hardly could we find four locals. What do you make of this?
Chief: Let me explain further what you have just said; you bring a player from Manchester United, you bring another one from Chelsea who are playing different systems, you bring another from PSG, you bring one from Dynamos in Russia, playing different systems and some of them would come to join the team two or three days before the match, how do they blend into a team?
MM: And the word team means something else entirely – you mean?
Chief: Team is different from group, the intention of a coach is that the eleven people would think and behave like one man. That is what a team means. But when you bring them from different parts of the world, it is a group (of players), not a team. The nucleus of the national team must be home based, and I will give you an example, in 1983 to 1985, I did not have one foreign player in the national team, not one.
MM: And you came up with silver during the nation’s cup!
Chief: Hen- en! And when I was going to the world cup (in 2002), I started at home because those players who played in Mali in January/February wrote, they said that if anyone of them was not invited, none of those invited would come. I was with the minister, somebody brought a paper to him, he read the paper and gave it to me across the table, and it contained this – that if all of them were not invited, all of them who were sacked from Mali competition, if anyone of them was left out, none of them invited would come into the national team. About ten minutes later, they brought another paper, he read it and gave it to me and the content (was), if anyone of them came, he was coming to sabotage and that was the mistake I made. I brought them in… because they started begging me, appealing, and one of them in particular was responsible for our loss against Argentina, our loss against Sweden. And that was why I changed the team against England and we played a draw. So, Segun was right, the nucleus of the national team should be home based. You bring in foreign players to fortify. I told you one story, in 1984, when I played against Ghana in Gbawe, they have seven professionals from abroad, I didn’t have one and we beat them. But another problem is this, you will not find a home-based player because there is no developmental programme. In those days, if you hated shooting stars (IICC) like shit, you still wanted to watch Odegbami, you wanted to watch Mudashiru Lawal, Kunle Awesu, Sam Ojebode… Where are players of that class today in our local league? And that is why we are no longer having the crowd.
MM: It was even allegedly reported of recent that somebody footed the whole bill for the gate fee on behalf of shooting stars and people declined the free offer and no crowd was seen as expected! What do you make of this?
Chief: Because the attraction is no longer there. We no longer have the players that will keep you at the edge of your seat. A couple of months ago I went to watch a match at Adamansigba, I have to leave at half time and I was shedding tears… I was shedding tears.
MM: Sir, can you recall a couple of players that were actually products of this advocated grassroots developmental programme? I mean in Nigeria.
Chief: We’ve had great names and the person I believe was the greatest player Nigeria has ever produced was Teslim Balogun – Thunderbolt…
MM: How was he discovered?
Chief: Are you talking of those I discovered?
MM: No, we’re coming to yours in particular; general ones now.
Chief: You know, at that time, everything was on merit, he (Teslim Balogun ) went through the ranks – club, his club and so on and so forth. And you have people like Dan Anyiam, Ibiam – the goalkeeper, a lot of them, Ayo Adeniji in Ibadan here, a powerful header.
MM: Now, to those you discovered. Tell us like who and who?
Chief: Several, I would say, Rashidi Yekini, is of blessed memory now, I discovered him in 1983 and nurtured him until I left the national team. Vincent Enyeama, nobody knew anything about him, he was playing for Enyinmba then and I watched one of their matches in Abeokuta (with Julius Berger) and I selected him. Before him I had (Austine) Ejide. I went to watch a match they played with Julius Berger in Abeokuta and I discovered the talent and invited him to the national team. And the day I was going to use him against England… hmm-hmm, what I heard people talk about me was enough to frighten me out of life. But we thank God.
MM: Do you still relate with all these players God used you to discover, particularly the living ones like Vincent Enyeama?
Chief: Since we departed after the world cup in 2002, I’ve not heard a ‘hello’ from him (Enyeama). Some years ago I was at Akwa–Ibom airport, I was waiting for a flight, he went in front of me (and I called him), Vincent, (and he said) “baba I no know say you dey there, I dey come” ( laughs)… The type of nature God gives me, when I do a thing, whether for an individual or for the nation, I am not expecting any thank you; I am doing it because God has put me in a position to do it.
MM: Now, particularly about justCAREERS’ Secondary schools approach of developing sports men and women, sir, what do you make of this project?
Chief: One year, a chairman of the Nigerian football Association, Lulu, Sanni Lulu, invited me from Ibadan here to Abuja and when I got to him, He said “baba, we now want to follow your advice, we now want to start grassroots development”, I smiled. I now asked him how, he said “now we want to organise under 13 football competition” and I frowned my face, he said “baba what is wrong?” Is competition development? (I asked) I said you want me to bring under 13 players from Modakeke, we’ll come to Abuja and play the way we play in our backyard in Modakeke; who taught us how to play? Who taught those boys how to play? Why does a teacher set up an examination in school? Because he wants to find out (how efficient they are) from what he taught them. That is what competition is (meant) for in sport, you want to use competition to assess how much a participant has learnt. But if you have not taught them anything, what are you going to assess?
MM: Now, back on justCAREERS’ sports developmental projects, what’s your take on the projects and on raising a hallmark club ultimately by the projects?
Chief: Yes, I believe in the projects and I understand what you are saying. The problem we (may) have now is the modality, the practicability… the first paper I wrote on sports development in Nigeria was in 1965, that was 52 years ago! And things are getting worse, not better.
MM: Well, we will want believe that that was when no medium particularly was championing the cause like justCAREERS is ready to do now.
Chief: Yes, I am only giving you this challenge now that we sit down and find a way of convincing the government and the parents – this is our objective, this is where we are going… I am only throwing a challenge, I am not against your objective and your programme. I am only throwing a challenge that you will need to sit down and perfect the planning, this is part of the planning I am talking about (the consultation you are already making).
MM: Must a project like this get government involved at the initial stage? Can’t we do anything on our own while governments’ in whatever related capacities get convinced by the quality delivery and buy the same ideas used for the development of different establishments and particularly sports?
Chief: I keep saying one thing, by FIFA regulations, Nigeria does not have one football club! What is a club? Four of us here have common interest to form a club, who is going to appoint a chairman for us? Among ourselves? Who appoint chairman for shooting?
MM: Government, may be.
Chief: Is that a club? (laughs). Because FIFA regulation says that the controlling board of any football body must be democratically elected. When did they conduct election into Rangers’ board? Kano Pillars? Shooting stars? Kwara what ever? When? Another section, article 17 says: any football body must be capable of handling its affairs entirely without interference of a third party. When the governments give them money, are they not interfering? Are they members of the club?
MM: Now, I am happy you are consenting to the fact that it can be run without government interference drawing inference from the illustration you just made.
Chief: Definitely! Everything good is possible to achieve, once the Almighty God is there. A lot of things are very beautiful on the pages of paper but when it comes to practicalism…, and that is the most important aspect. That is why I am belabouring (the point) you now, it is a big task, but as big as it is, it is possible to achieve depending on how you go about it. Now talking about sports development programmes in the whole South-west of Nigeria – Osun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, Ogun and Lagos, with initial focus on the secondary schools as you have proposed; we are talking about football now, this will apply to all sports. The training must come before competition and that is what makes it a developmental programme. Therefore we must train the trainers’ who will in turn train the schools games-masters at the local government level, in that progression. As a practical man, I can’t see you organising a meaningful competition without training. You will organise it and everyone will clap and go. Are you satisfied with that? Are you not thinking of the quality? Is that not you set out to achieve? And if you are not thinking of the quality from the ward level, you can’t get it at the national level, that is why Nigeria’s sport is what it is today. A lot of talents are getting rotten away, because one, there is no programme to identify them; two, after identifying, there is no programme to polish them. If a project like this sports developmental programme as proposed (and powered) by justCAREERS could be well packaged, it will pay off and at the same time turn out to help sports (renaissance) as planned. Partner companies are out there to partner with well packaged and structured projects like this.
MM: Do you see Nigeria’s league coming back stronger and the national teams turning a new leaf?
Chief: I have re-emphasized this several times, I told some people that Nigeria is capable of winning the world cup at the senior level but it depends on what we put into it. The resources are there and this is what we have been talking about. You have many people handling our league teams today who had not been trained as coaches…
MM: Who had never been trained as coaches?
Chief: Never trained as coaches, and they are handling (league teams)!
MM: May be as supporters of the main coaches…
Chief: What are you talking about? I mean as coaches – employed! How do you want to raise the standard of play in that club, when you don’t have a trained coach? You mentioned Odegbami (the other time), Odegbami was a fantastic brave player; was he a coach? But ordinarily now in Nigeria, people would say person like Odegbami, if he can handle this team… Is he a coach? If your level of coaching is determined by the level of your play, Pele would be the best coach in the world today. Is he? Maradona has been running from pillar to pole wanting to become a coach, has he been able to do it? Which big team did Mourinho play for? But he’s a coach.
MM: What would you make of Oliseh’s coaching Super Eagles?
Chief: When he was going to be employed, I cried loud – television, newspaper, I said it was a mistake; he had not got the experience to coach Nigera. They said it was because I hated him, some people were accusing me of tribalism, what happened at the end of the day?
MM: What would you say about the present coach – Gernot Rohr?
Chief: I have told several media people that I wouldn’t to talk about him. He had been employed about thirteen countries and he was sacked in eleven of the thirteen. I have nothing to say. (But yet) Some people considered him to be the best for Nigeria!
MM: But they will tell you out there he has not lost any match since he came.
Chief: That was exactly what Westerhof enjoyed in Nigeria… he enjoyed the support of the powerful people. When Westerhof left Nigeria, he went to Zimbabwe, he failed, he went to South Africa, he failed , where is he today?
MM: In Ilorin…
Chief: Ilorin? Long time. Since when?
MM: I think he was running an academy there?
Chief: Even Mutiu (Adepoju) that came after him had been sacked. And we keep repeating the same mistake (in Nigeria) over and over and over. Now on the training of coaches, I have what I now call the Bible which CAF and Nigeria are using now for their junior coaches. It is a presentation of about 100 slides, on some of the slides… each of them, I can make five books.
MM: Which was prepared by you?
Chief: Yes, the title is “Soccer simplified” I broke soccer – the game of football.
MM: Are you intending turning it into a book?
Chief: If it is possible.
MM: It’s our passionate concern to take such up at TLMC.
Chief: I said if it is possible because some people wrote my biography three years ago, no, it’s now four years and the biography has not been allowed to surface up till now. They wanted to use it to mark my 75th, now I am 79.
MM: What could have caused that? But we will use this to celebrate your 80th by God’s grace.
Chief: (Laughs). Some who feel it affects their position, may be they have seen the draft, they are the ones killing the book. They (the people writing the biography) have collected all the necessary documents, materials, photographs, scripts and everything; I now want to call them to return those things to me. They have sent the script (manuscript) of the book to me. They now decided that (a governor) should write the foreword, they sent a paper to him four years ago, after about one year, they didn’t hear anything from him, I went to him (the governor) and handed to him the hard copy of the letter; four years ago, nothing has happened till now! It was only recently I directed them to visit Afe Babalola, Afe Babalola has written a beautiful foreword.
MM: Back to the “Soccer Simplified”, Can we have a fleeting glimpse of it? Or it’s all about training of coaches.
Chief: Training of coaches (and other aspects of soccer). It is in various segments; one of it is the history of the game itself, how the football came up. Organisational structure from FIFA to the club level.
MM: Which means somebody can just get hold on it and be furnished with the nitty-gritty of soccer.
Chief: Hmm – hmm, yes of course! Then you now talk about a coach, who is a coach? What’s the difference between a coach and a teacher? What are the methods of coaching? How do you effect your coaching? Then you now talk about the players; you’re now going into a venture, what is your target? To succeed; what translates into success in football? Good result. Who will give you this good result? The players. What does the player need to give you good result? – Fitness. What are the aspects of fitness for football? (Laughs). If you are interested… I can turn this into a book.
MM: Exactly what I said the other time. This is a one-stop soccer compendium and must be turned into a book as soon as possible. On a final note sir, what advice can you offer the upcoming sportsmen and women, especially in football?
Chief: An advice directly to them will be meaningless. The reason still boils down to what we have been saying – training, development. Yes, they are gifted, but who will prepare them for performance? What type of training do they have? You can’t just conclude by mere seeing a child running out there that he will make a good athlete and become a champion without the necessary training. Let me give you an example; (stands up and demonstrates an action by walking unsteadily and he calls it an incorrect posture of walking). Ordinary walking without correct posture, sportsmen must be taught the correct posture of walking. So you now have an idea of what I am talking about – training. How many of our coaches understand what I just demonstrated to you now? That is just about ordinary walking. And they contest most of these facts, asking, what unnecessary things am I saying. And if these bad postures are not corrected, how do you develop that player? It is not possible… you have to go to the basics. The reason I am hammering on training, training, training, training… Who train them? When you start from the wrong position, how do you get to the final? That is why I am insisting on training. Any sporting programme that does not start with preparation and development, I will not be part of it. Because it’s fake, it’s window dressing. And as we’ve been saying for some time now, this development project we are talking about, you can still market it. Or haven’t we discussed something like that? And when you make it and people buy the concept, then why do you want to keep away from the real thing? And by the time you do that of football, you do with cricket… Nobody can convince me that football cannot pay its way. That football has to beg to survive; it’s because of the way we are managing it.
MM: So your advice to the upcoming sportsmen and women is to find a means of getting themselves trained?
Chief: Yes, exposing themselves to proper training. But are they going to employ coaches that will train them? That is where the problem lies. The advice I can give to them is what I am saying, expose themselves to proper training and be dedicated during training and practice.
MM: To get themselves exposed to proper training and be dedicated. And on that note we shall be wrapping it up on this exciting interview by gratefully appreciating your passion for justCAREERS (matterMATTERS247), its concepts and projects, and particularly for the audience given us so far. Thank you very much Sir.
Chief: It’s my pleasure.