A former General-Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation, Barr Musa Amadu has declared that he will publish the accounts of the NFF to the general public if elected president. In an interview with Trust Sports, the Jigawa-born lawyer revealed that he resigned as the General-Secretary in 2015 because he was asked to transfer $3.6m out of the federation’s account without proper documentation and cogent reason.
Who is Barrister Musa Amadu?
I am someone who is passionate about football, I have been in football administration since 2007 when I became the Deputy General Secretary of the Nigerian football federation. I worked under a General Secretary that taught me the ropes, Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba. In 2010 I became the General Secretary, I held that position until March 2015 and within that period I was able to minister football at the secretariat in which we were able to win 13 continental trophies. So, I’m the most successful General Secretary in the history of Nigerian football. That culminated in 2013, in our winning of the AFCON in South Africa. Since then we have not won that title. I’m a lawyer by training, I was called to the Bar in 1987. I practiced law in Kano for two years before becoming a company secretary legal adviser with a cotton company in Kaduna.
What led you specifically into football?
Since I was a kid I loved football, I went to a missionary boarding primary school managed by missionaries in Jigawa State. We had an Overall Principal who was a Canadian and in the school when I started in 1969 we were exposed to all aspects of sports, whether it was track and field games, football, basketball, volleyball and even baseball. We played all these games when in primary school, so I think from the onset I just had a passion for sports. Even though I was not really good at football, I was good at basketball, athletics, handball, hockey and other games.
In recent times, Nigerians have tagged NFF as a “corrupt” federation based on the recent investigation by the ICPC and EFCC into the finances of the federation, if you will emerge as NFF president, how will you remove that tag?
On a general note corruption permits all sectors of the society in Nigeria and it’s not something that is confined to football alone, every sector of our economy is suffering from this ill. It is our duty in areas where we find ourselves that we do things in a transparent way, do things with accountability and integrity. I want to say that we will work with the government, sponsors, partners. We will publish our accounts to the whole world. Everything that comes in and goes out and what is being utilized in the programs we do will be known.
In recent times, the Nigerian leagues have not been viable, not virile and there have been no sponsors like in the past, what steps will you take to improve the Nigerian leagues?
We need to rebrand our leagues, whether it’s the NPFL, the NNL or the Women’s league. We must ensure that we rebrand it completely.
The referees are the biggest problem we have, the referees are unfortunately persuaded by so many people in the league to change decisions that are not sportsmanly and defendable and also affect the fortunes of teams.
We want to ensure that by the 2026 world cup, we would develop and train our referees, so that we would have a Centre referee for a World Cup match. We would also ensure we have them in all other competitions. Egypt recognized the fact that refereeing is the biggest issue that they face in their leagues so what they did is to appoint Mark Clattenburg, a former referee in the EPL to oversee the growth of refereeing in Egypt. We have to bring a referee at the highest level like Pierluigi Collina into Nigeria.
You are tagged by many as “Mr. Integrity”, the current administration of NFF have signed many deals but do not reveal the figures and details, you have said you will open books to the world. Is that legal?
Well, I think even FIFA and CAF open their books to public scrutiny and Nigerian football should not be any different. Nigerian football is funded with money from sponsors, from the government and from FIFA, CAF and other revenue streams. They are accountable to anyone that is a stakeholder in Nigerian football whether it’s the fans or governments. You must be accountable on what comes in and how you have spent it.
You were the General Secretary of NFF for five years, why exactly did you resign?
A circumstance arose in which the funds that came into the federation as a result of the 2014 FIFA World cup, the funds were supposedly meant to be returned back to government as loan which when we went to their national assembly to defend out budget we were told to not return the funds and we should utilise them for our programs and the leadership felt those funds should be returned anyway and as the chief administrative officer, I was told to transfer the funds moneys out of the federation without any proper documentation and I refused then I resigned. I believed I would not be part of any kind of transfer or anything that would deplete the federation. The amount involved was $3.6 million, it was the money given to the Super Eagles after the intervention of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The National teams have not been doing so well as desired by Nigerians and after speaking with some ex-internationals, they said the reason was due to inconsistent players selection especially for the Super Eagles, what’s your take on that?
I think the support structures for the National teams are just not there and if our teams are selected on merit, and everyone is given an opportunity to prove his/herself and we have the right coaches and environment with the right attitude through the team, and federation, we would be able to fulfil our huge potential. I think it’s a combination of a lot of factors.
What exactly will you do differently if you become the NFF president?
We will ensure that we get it right and that our programs are geared towards success and make sure the funding is done properly. We must build a national training Centre in Abuja.
The training Centre will be like the one in London called St George’s park, all our national teams would come in an environment that is fully secured. We will have accommodation that will take at least 4 or 5 national teams with their officials, at least 8 training pitches, restaurants, gym facilities, medical facilities, simply everything a national team requires to train in a secured serene conducive atmosphere.
Do you have any regrets as far as football administration is concerned?
I do not have any regrets, I think I have been given the privilege to serve Nigerian Football. I did it to the best of my ability.
Is there any form of support from the government or past NFF Presidents towards your ambition?
I have the support of all the former General Secretaries and Presidents of the Federation. I have worked and known them over the years, I have the utmost respect for their achievements. They also believe in my ability to deliver.
