Former Super Eagles striker Jonathan Akpoborie has disagreed with Patrick Ekeji, the former Director-General of National Sports Commission who advised against conferment of National honours on members of the victorious Golden Eaglets that won the 2015 U-17 FIFA World Cup.
Ekeji, himself an ex-player and former coach has rather called for mentorship, to help secure the future of the world’s soccer cadet champions, saying that he was worried about the future of the Chile 2015 set of players.
But Akpoborie on his part, said the call by the former NSC isn’t feasible in the nearest future as far as the Nigerian set up is concerned.
“I read Ekeji’s position on the matter (Eaglets future) and he is still talking about the same thing that was done to us in 1985. This is 2015 and he is still talking about the same thing. Please can some close to him remind him that it did not work then and won’t work now” the former Dusseldorf player wrote on twitter.
Ekeji in a chat with newsmen recently said “Government should rather secure the future of the Eaglets through mentorship rather than awarding them the National honours.
“The whole idea of the age group championship is to bring the young players together in a sporting environment to showcase their talents. “We should be more worried about the future of these young talents and not to confer National honours on them,” he said.
Ekeji wondered why most youngsters’ who started out well at age-grade categories should not sustain the momentum.
He urged the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to bring all the players together and nurture them into formidable seniors.
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