David Ngobua
This is obviously not the best of times for Nigerian football referees as they have come under heavy criticism following their recent exclusion from the list of officials picked by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire.
CAF had unveiled a list of 85 referees, comprising centre referees, assistant referees, Video Assistant Referees (VARs), technical instructors, physical trainers, VAR technicians, and IT support to undergo a preparation course for the 2024 AFCON.
In February, 29 Nigerian referees were awarded the FIFA badges, the highest qualification in the profession. Sadly, none of them made the list. It is also the 13th time that no Nigerian referee will be officiating at the AFCON.
This latest snub by CAF has expectedly elicited wide condemnation from Nigerian football stakeholders who have blamed systematic failure for the embarrassing situation.
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Although a few Nigerian referees had appeared at FIFA’s age-grade championships, none has officiated at the senior World Cup. As a matter of fact, in the history of the NRA, the closest a Nigerian referee came to officiating at the FIFA World Cup was in 2013 when FIFA Peter Elgam Edibi made the provisional list for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
However, after his appearance at the FIFA Club World Cup, he was inexplicably left out of the final list. The unfortunate situation was blamed on dirty politics in CAF.
Inarguably the most successful Nigerian football referee, Edibi who started his career in 1992, officiated in the Nigerian league, CAF inter-club competitions, CHAN, AFCON and FIFA tournaments till his retirement in 2015.
He officiated in five AFCON tournaments, two African Nations Championships (CHAN), one Africa U-17 Championship, one FIFA U-20 World Cup and one FIFA Club World Cup in 2013 in Morocco where he was among the referees who officiated the third place match.
Having retired from active refereeing, he now serves as CAF Instructor/Assessor and FIFA Trained Referees’ Instructor/Assessor. Edibi has so far served as referee coach/instructor and assessor at the CAF/WAFU B U-17 in Togo in 2021 and CAF/WAFU B U-17 in Ghana in 2022.
It is also imperative to note that FIFA Edibi (rtd) mentored one of the most successful Nigerian female referees, Mimisen Iyorhe Calvin-Onwuka, who officiated the final match of the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations (AWCON) in Morocco and was among the referees who officiated at the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica. She also made the provisional list of referees for the just concluded FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia/New Zealand.
So, this has been the inspiring story of Edibi but after him, there appears to be a dangerous lull that has brought to question the ability of Nigerian referees to officiate at the highest level of football.
It is against this background that Nigerian football stakeholders have expressed fear that if something is not done urgently to address some of the problems that have bedevilled the NRA, in no distant future, no Nigerian referee will be considered good enough to handle even CAF inter-club competitions.
Therefore, the Chairman of the FCT Football Association, Alhaji Adam Mouktar Mohammed, has called on the leadership of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to declare an emergency in the NRA.
In his chat with Trust Sports, he said “We are a football powerhouse and also the most populous in Africa. I think it is a state of emergency not to see any Nigerian name on the AFCON list. I am sure the NFF boss will ask questions and act appropriately.”
A former Chairman of Gombe State Football Association, Alhaji Shuaibu Gara-Gombe, believes that corruption in the NRA and its members who are appointed to officiate matches has put a big question mark on the integrity of Nigerian referees.
“Our referees have improved over the years, but that is not enough. The stories of controversial decisions, corruption allegations, poor management of the league, match-fixing allegations and allegations of bad officiating have put Nigerian referees in jeopardy.
“In addition, referees are owed their allowances for two to three seasons without any explanation. How do you expect products of such a system to be respected?
“Match appointments are not based on merit but who you know. Clubs even choose their match referees. If you don’t have money, you don’t win the league or even a match. It is an open secret that clubs now invest more on referees than their players.
“All these are shared on social media and the whole world reads these stories. Even if they are allegations, what have we done to investigate them? If we do not put our house in order, I doubt if CAF or FIFA is going to look in the direction of our referees.”
On his part, a seasoned journalist and media aide to the immediate past Minister of Sports, John Joshua-Akanji, said “Systemic failure which does not allow merit to thrive in the grooming and appointment of referees is the bane of Nigerian referees.”
He reiterated that mediocrity, nepotism and lack of above board leadership have combined to reduce the value of Nigerian referees in the eyes of international football ruling bodies.
Another versatile sports journalist and broadcaster, Victor Iroele, also believes that the referees themselves and the league organisers should be blamed for the constant snubbing of Nigerian football referees.
“The referees want to eat their cake and have it back while the organisers need to provide adequate security that can guarantee safety for the referees to do their jobs without fear or favour.
“But some of them prefer money to their lives and can manufacture “kalee” from nowhere and rule out clean goals because of their compromise.”
A football administrator and coach, Patrick Ngwaogu, said there are good referees in Nigeria but the best ones among them are hardly selected by the NFF referees committee for accreditation by FIFA.
“Nigeria referees constant exclusion from CAF and FIFA Championships is caused by defective selection. Yes, we have good referees that can stand out among the best in the world, but those who shortlist them, are they doing the right thing?
“Many of the good referees are not shortlisted when it is time to send names to FIFA. It is then that we bring all the ethnic and religious bigotry into play to deprive the good ones the opportunity.”
He elucidated that the leadership of the NRA has little or nothing to do with the short listing of referees to be badged by FIFA. According to him, the responsibility falls within the purview of the NFF Referees Committee.
Ngwaogu, therefore urged Nigerians to ask the committee if the referees whose names they submit regularly meet all the criteria outlined by FIFA.
Also speaking, a retired Nigerian elite referee, Harry Yachi, called on the leadership of the NFF to urgently appoint a competent Head of Refereeing as approved by FIFA.
“We have good referees but the system is not working effectively for them to excel. It is expected that the NFF will appoint someone to head the department of refereeing but that vacuum still exists.
“At the moment, Peter Edibi is one of the most frequently used referees’ instructors and assessors. If he is so recognised by CAF and FIFA, I wonder why a prophet must be denied honour in his hometown,” said Yachi.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Sports, John Enoh, who has decried the non-inclusion of Nigerian referees in the 2024 AFCON list is said to be asking the NFF the reasons behind the recent embarrassment.
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