stakeholders call for reforms at Big Sports Dialogue :
Rivers State Commissioner for Sports, Barr. Chris Green, has delivered a damning verdict on the state of Nigerian football , saying incompetence at the heart of Nigerian football administration.
Green, a former chieftain of the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) , said as much in Lagos yesterday at The Big Sports Dialogue-a high-level forum that examined the nation’s declining sports systems and proposed strategic reforms- where majority of the stakeholders have called for total reforms.
In attendance at the event are some of the bigwigs in the society and sports including former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), the Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Shehu Dikko and the commission’s Director General , Bukola Olopade, as well as the Chairman of National Institute Sports , Comrade Philip Shaibu, NFF board member, Aisa Falode , immediate past NFF President Amaju Pinnick, Sports marketing expert, Mike Itemuagbor, top basketball promoter, Igoche Mark , Dr. Reuben Abati of Arise TV and a host of other personalities.
Convened by broadcast journalist , Aron Akerejola of Arise TV , the dialogue was described as a bold response to the painful realities exposed by the Super Eagles’ recent World Cup Playoff collapse — a moment that laid bare deep cracks in governance, structure, leadership and athlete welfare.
Dwelling on the shoddy state of Nigerian football, Green argued that the current leadership lacked the technical depth required to drive progress, saying many administrators “do not have the capacity, that cannot perform, that cannot hold their own.”
He noted that football development has been restricted to a small circle of individuals, preventing qualified professionals from contributing.
“The space is not open, if you open the space, people that are competent, people that have capacity can come in and help salvage what we have remaining in our football,” he noted.
He also condemned the continuous recycling of the same personnel in key technical roles, noting: “If you are doing the same thing the same way, you still get the same result.”
Meanwhile, former Lagos State Governor, Mr, Fashola urged sports administrators to return to intentional planning and structural coherence.
He referenced a previous Lagos policy that linked sports participation to school enrolment, noting it helped monitor talent and curbed age-cheating.
“If you are not in school, you don’t do sports,” Fashola said, even as he emphasised the need for upgraded infrastructure, integration of sports science and nutrition and a functional connection between physical education teachers, state sports commissions and national programmes.
Over all, participants agreed that Nigerian sports require urgent restructuring guided by professionalism, competence and long-term planning. They emphasised that only deliberate reforms—free of political interference—can restore Nigeria’s competitive edge on the continental and global stage.
