Pinnick: We are marching towards our goal, steadily

There is still a lot of work on the road, but the present NFF administration believes it is working assiduously towards the set vision of building a sustainable football culture for Nigeria.

At its inception at the end of September 2014, the Board led by Amaju Melvin Pinnick had unveiled a vision of building a sustainable football culture for the country, founded on strategies of capacity building and a virile youth development program.

On Wednesday, in a statement to mark the one year of the administration and to look forward to the next one year, Pinnick gave the Board a pat on the back, and stated that the unity within the group and general body language assure him that everyone is ready for the enormous work ahead, as well as foreseeable and unforeseen challenges.

“As you rightly note, there is a lot of work ahead. I am not happy with the decline of the Super Falcons and we are putting heads together for an all –encompassing solution to women’s football, not just the Falcons. But apart from that, I believe we have done well in pursuing our vision.

“Our capacity –building programs have had immediate impact in the League, which everyone is now talking about, and only on Tuesday, we did public presentation of our youth development policy.”

Pinnick is delighted by the triumphs of the Falcons and the U-20 boys (at the 2014 African Women Championship and 2015 African Youth Championship), continued progress of the U-23 team in the race to 2016 Olympics and the qualification of the Golden Eaglets for the  FIFAU-17 World Cup. But he insisted that the focus has not only been on the field of play.

“We have been busy putting blocks in place for the building of a structure. Structure is important because this is what will outlive everyone. Once you have a structure, everything becomes almost automatic. Only monitoring and diligence will be required.

“The other big challenge is funding, and that is why we have been all over seeking the support of corporate organizations to buy into our programs.”

Pinnick believes that within the next one year, the work on building of a structure will be greatly advanced.

“On the field of play, we will give all necessary support to the Super Eagles’ crew to qualify the team for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations and start strongly in the race to the 2018 FIFA World Cup. We will give support to the home-based professionals to win the African Nations Championship.

“Also, we are determined that the U-23 boys qualify for and do the nation proud at the Olympics, while we entrench our development plan for women’s football and pursue doggedly our youth development program. Not forgetting the defence of the U-17 World Cup, which the Eaglets are set for next month.”