Yola wants bailout for NFF to hire foreign coach

As the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) remains adamant on foreign coach for the Super Eagles, a former principal officer in the National Sports Commission, Alhaji Abba Yola has advised the football federation to approach President Muhammadu Buhari for help.
Speaking on the controversy over appointment of a foreign coach for the senior national team, Yola said it is obvious that the NFF lacks the financial capacity to foot the bills of the expatriate coach they want to hire so they should seek financial assistance from the federal government.
Yola noted that since the federal government has been of immense help to sports, particularly with adequate funding, the NFF should not shy away from making their financial predicament known.
He added that President Buhari is looking for ways to lift the battered image of the country and would support any effort geared towards bettering the image of the country.
Yola, therefore, went down memory lane to explain how the immediate past leadership of the NFF once got a blank approval from former President Goodluck Jonathan for the hiring of a foreign coach.
 “I was involved in a similar situation but as an observer not too long ago, where even the President was involved in who comes in as a foreign coach.
“His passion for helping the then NFF to get it right made him to at one of our (PTF on 2010 WC) meetings with him said and I quote: ‘If today you give me the name of the foreign coach you want to hire, I can assure you I will submit a supplementary budget on this to the NASS and you can be rest assured that they will promptly approve it,” he said.
 He, therefore, said since the leadership of the NFF and the minister’s body language have shown preference for a foreign coach and his assistant (s), it is only right for them to know that this matter is beyond them.