Minister's move was improper-Galadima Nigeriasports.com: The Flying Eagles' world cup chances, and need to overhaul the team. Galadima: First of all, I congratulate the team for their brilliant performance at the African Youth Champions. They proved themselves worthy heroes. Your question whether the team will be overhauled for the worldcup is a technical matter which I don't like to dabble into. It has not been in my character to get involved. I leave that with the coaches. Well, I am waiting for the coaches to come forward and tell us what their programmes are, then we work on this programme . They know better what to do. If they feel the team they have now is good enough for world cup, fine, if they feel they need to get more players, we will give them the opportunity , let them come forward with their proposal. we have some three four months to go and whatever assistance they need in terms of friendly matches , in terms of camping , in terms of whatever, I want to assure Nigerians that we will do anything possible to ensure that we have a good outing because I believe we have a good team. After listening to the coaches with their programmes, we also have to have some idea of the teams taking part in the world youth championship for us to know , all these will be part of technical and tactical appropriation the coaches will be comming out with. Galadima: I don't have any doubt about the technical development of the African Youth Football. The standard I have seen is quite impressive. It is quite remarkable to see what has happened so far. Like I said before the performance of the teams. The goals scored even from the report (technical) I got from CAF . I believe CAF is very much satisfied that there is improvement in Africal Youth Football. And I believe that more of it will come later. Nigeriasports.com: On the organisational ability of Republic of Benin? Galadima: One has to commend them because hosting such championship for the first time , you are bound to have problems along the line no doubt about it. But of course you have to give them credit for doing what they have done. We have to appreciate the fact that you cannot have any perfection in things like this and therefore countries like Benin in hosting this for the first time, one has to say that they have really done well. By the time they have an opportunity to host similar championship, they will do a better job. One has to commend them for what they have done. Galadima: Of course it is very tragic. It is very sad having watched the match that he conceeded three goals that people accused him of for doing what they did to him. I think no justice was done to him. He didn`t deserve to die that way. Falsely, some people out of overzealousness, out of some madness decided to do that. It is very barbaric, it is unbecoming of African culture, because we are known to be people who are receptive. Even our own people show appreciation. The boy needed to be appreciated because there was nothing he could have done. And people should not forget in a hurry that we are not of the same standard. So they should not be expecting us to have may be lost to them. Of course yes, they could have expected, but the standards were not the same for them to have gone crazy about their team losing to Nigeria. Whoever did this was not fair to the family of the boy, the boy, Beninoise image as a country. Certainly for a very for a very long time to come, it will be seen as a very brutal act and unbecoming for this modern age. Of course it is not limited to Africa, we know what has been hapenning in the South Americans, in other places but obviously to us in Africa it is new and I think we should not see it again. Infact, it will never happen again. Nigeriasports.com: African teams and their chances in the world Youth Championship (Netherlands 2005). Ah... Yes, generally African teams have not faired well in the world Youth Championships but again we hope and pray that this is now going to be the begining of a new chapter, by the flying eagles going there to lead the way for other African countries. We have seen how other qualifiers fared. Of course, we miss countries like Ghana and Cameroun who perhaps if they be here, the excitement, the qaulity of the matches would have perhaps been more than what we have seen here. Again it also goes to confirm that opposition is very stiff for them to have lost and not being in Benin, I think is a confirmation that African football at Youth level is growing. I don`t have any doubt about the future propspects of that championship. African teams will do well.
Galadima: For all that happened, let me say this for all to understand, that whatever must have been achieved from that issue I think is not a triumph for NFA, it is not a victory for Ibrahim Galadima. It is a victory for Nigerian football. I have the feeling that Nigerian football can never be the same again. With this development now, the future looks very bright. The environment is going to be more condusive for football admnistration in the future. The situation in NFA is still as it has alwyas been, the board is there, the secretary General is there but the new law that is coming into effect now is such that the secretary General is no longer the Chief executive of NFA, he is going to be admnistrative officer of NFA. Of course the chairman is now likely going to have some powers. Unless these are defined one cannot say anything at the moment . Now as we are talking, the entire management of NFA has been sent on compulsory leave pending the completion of investigation we are conducting with view to establishing wheather they are guilty or otherwise of the points raised earlier by the ministry of sports.The bard will meet after the investigation to determine their fate. The league board has been inaugurated by me on the 18th of january and we held a meeting where we told them to follow the guidelines given by FIFA as regards the establishment of the proleague in the country. We all have to appreciate that it is a new innovation and we are bound to have some hicups along the line. The board maybe out of their desire to be seen to be incharge now might have done one or two things which went out of the ordinary and which we drew their attention to thread cautiously. For instance, they set up committees within the board which we felt they should`nt have done because FIFA has made it very clear that their statutes and guidelines have to be approved by the NFA which they have not done. So I said that has to be done before they can embark on establishment of any committee. They would have power to do what they want to do from the statutes and unless that is done there is no way you will be able to do anything so it is better for us to go slowly and have a good take off than allow the system to just start off in a bad way.
Also, we have made it very clear that whatever we have in place now is an interim arrangement. We had to do it because the league is to kick off on the 12th of February . We wouldn`t like to be seen by Nigerians to be stopping the kick off of the league. So I did the inauguration and we asked them to go ahead. Between now and the end of the season, we will work out the best system of electing the menmbership of the board in the true sense of the word election. We have to allow what is now there on the ground because of time factor. On that basis I asked them to have that in mind which they accepted. We also set up a three man connittee to look into the statutes which the new board have presented for them to come up with ecommendations to the board. When the board meet after the report must have been presented, the statutes will be looked into and approval will be given. That will not hinder their own operations. We don`t want to be seen as stopping them. It is a welcome development as far as NFA is concerned. It is a relief to us. It will take the league burden off NFA for now. Let the club owners be the ones to decide. But there are fundamental issues there, that the club owners or the league board has to appreciate that they cannot and they are in no position to handle effectively. Take the case of issue of referring, take the issue of disciplining teams when they faulted because they are the club owners. You know fairness and justice demands that some body else will be the one to decide not the club owners who are directly involved in the issue. So, these are kind of things we are going to strimline and we are in the process. We need to even understand what their roles are. And even the ministry of sports made it very clear that day that they have to appreciate that they are still under the NFA. FIFA have said it that all leagues in the world are surbodinate to their national associations. There is no difficulty in understaning the roles of FA and the roles of the league board, but only that some people feel that now they are at the board they have total freedom and total control of issues. So this is the situation as regards the league board. Nigeriasports.com: Your dream league for 2005 season? Galadima: we expect a better league in terms of management. The ball is now in their court.( club owners) They have been the ones crying about the quality of the league , about the problem in the league , they are now the ones to run it. Let us wait and see. But of course like I keep on saying we all have to share responsibiliyt for all lapses in the league over time. The FA, the referees, the club managers who had alwys wanted to win at all cost to keep their jobs. We all have to accept responsibility that we have all faulted at one time or the other in making the league become what it has become. Good or bad, we all have to share the blame. Nigeriasports.com: What legacy do you want to leave as NFA chairman with nine months to go. Galadima: Well, this is a difficult question. I wouldn’t like to be talking on these things but I have the feeling that by the time I leave NFA I would leave a fulfilled person. Fulfilled in the sense that I made promise in Nov. 2002 when I came in, in specific areas. One in the area of Youth football Development, I promised that and thank God like I said the U-17, U-21 we are on the way to achieving that, we also promised to work with the ministry to abrogate the decree 101, thank God we are also now in the 11th hour position on that so to say . We have been given the commitment by government of abrogating the decree and a new law has already been passed by the executive council which should now go to the national assembly, so the decree 101 is also out. That again is an achievement which for those who are coming after me I am sure are going to have a saner and better environment to run football more than the one l had gone through in the last two years. So it is quite an achievement that l will be proud to say l have been able to do it in my time. Something which had been on for many years. People had been complaining of decree 101, now it is off during my time. Of course there is FIFA goal project which is coming up in Abuja. It is a (technical centre) FIFA project. It is part of the youth development programme that we are also having. Nigeriasports.com: In some quarters it is believed that you stabbed the minister in the back with your actions. What is actually your relationship with the minister. Galadima: Well, talking about stabbing in the back, let me say that the minister had never come out to say that he told me who he was bringing in there as secretary - General or replacement for the management. He had never said so and if he had said so, l am yet to see. He did mention to me that he had gotten approval to sack the management, of course l told him at that time it wasn't timely because we were just going to Zurich two three days after we spoke and then we have the CAF Champions League coming up immediately after our return and l said it wasn't timely for us to do that. So since we came back from Zurich after the time he announced the reforms 23rd of December, 2004, we never discussed the issue again. So, talking about stabbing the minister in the back l think it is not a fair statement. In any case, the minister felt that as a minister he has the right to appoint whoever he wants to appoint but it has to be understood that whatever l was doing in that regard was for NFA and Nigerian football and never personal. It is never Ibrahim Galadiana’s personal decisions or actions but as chairman of NFA and these are two different things because Ibrahim Galadiana is separate from chairman of NFA. Ibrahim Galadiana as a person, l have my own personal position, but as chairman of NFA I am only conveying the position of the board which I as a chairman have the responsibility of expressing. So when it comes to that people must differentiate between Ibrahim Galadima as a person and chairman of the board of NFA, spokesman of a 22-man board that was elected to run the affairs of football.
So whatever l say is not my personal position, it is the position of the board which l have the responsibility of articulating and then telling or letting the nation know. So l never had any problem with the minister. l keep on saying that he is my boss. l have a lot of respect for the minister because l don't have any other alternative but to respect the position of a minister because it is a position which God has placed him in and by virtue of NFA position as parastatal of ministry of sports ,NFA has no alternative but to respect the office of the minister to the extent of not jeopardizing or compromising the position of FIFA which is the supreme football body in the world. So, l don't have any quarrel with the minister. There is nothing personal l believe he can testify to that because there has not been any occasion that l have come out to attack him. l have been attacking the ministry and there is a difference between the ministry and the minister, just like when you talk of Ibrahim Galadiana and NFA, there are two different things. When anybody comes out to attack Ibrahim Galadiana, the person is attacking the person of Ibrahim Galadiana but if he attacks the chairman of NFA he is fighting NFA as an institution. So, whenever l am complaining it has always been about the ministry and not the minister because the ministry is an institution and somebody somewhere in the ministry even a messenger represents the ministry and you may have somebody taking an action there that will be seen as a position of the ministry. So l have never had any quarrel with the minister and l don't have any intention because l have been involved in this sector for over two decades now. l don't think it is in my character to show disrespect to the office of a minister of the federal republic, somebody l have to go through in getting whatever l want from government as at today unless something happens. So l don't have any reason to show disrespect. We go on well, he calls me on phone and l call him, we came to Benin Republic together. We drove from Lagos to this place and we were at the stadium together. l believe that is a confirmation that there is not much to say except people tend to give an impression. Nigeriasports.com: Your relationship with Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi (Suspended Secretary General) Galadima: Unless he comes out himself to say otherwise. l don't think there is any basis for me to have any problem with the Secretary General of NFA. After all we don't operate on the same level, he is the Secretary General I am the chairman. By the virtue of the law establishing NFA as at today he is the chief executive officer. And since l came l have conceeded that position to him. I have never claimed to be the chief executive officer. l have never acted in anyway different from my position as chairman of NFA. And l have always conceeded that position to him. l don't think there is any basis for either him or anybody who is informed about the situation in NFA to say otherwise. l don't have quarrels with Ogunjobi. He has accepted me to be chairman of the board which he has to work with. Unfortunately over time he has been misled to believe that his loyalty should not be to the board but to ministry of sports that has the power to appoint and sack Secretary General of NFA. That has been the problem. Of course up to the time FIFA decided that Secretary-General of NFA should not be appointed by the Ministry , but by the board I think he has now come to realise that the board is where the power lies. We keep going even in difficult times. We never had any relationship before coming to NFA November, 2002. Since I came in we have been operating as Chairman and Secretary-General of the NFA but of course like I said along the line, he himself had really gotten himself in a situation where he had taken some actions and decisions which had gone to give the impression that the board was not as important as it should have been by virtue of the powers granted the ministry to protect and cover him the way he has been covered all the while. But I think that with this new development he has now come to appreciate even by tendering his letter of resignation to me when he tendered that letter personally to me was a confirmation that he now came to believe that the board was the one in charge of the situation and not the ministry any more. Nigeriasports.com: His resignation and come back, how did the board receive it? Galadima: He tendered a letter of resignation of course it was to me and the board was to decide and when the board met, it was presented and the board felt the question of accepting or rejecting does not arise because there was a pending case to be looked at meaning there are cases which his responses and that of some staff of management were needed. Unless those things were cleared there was no way we will come out and talk about accepting or rejecting the resignation. So that is dependent now on the out come of the three man committee which like I said will be finishing soon. That will now determine whether the resignation will be accepted or not. Nigeriasports.com: Preparation for the world cup, venue for match 5, qualifier against Gabon. Galadima: What we have going for us always has been the quality of players we have and then Nigerians seeing them play in their leagues every week all over the world. Therefore in terms of preparedness. I believe we are okay so to say because we just call these boys in very short notice depending on their club commitment they have to come and honour the national calls. We are playing Gabon March 5, but the issue of the venue is yet to be finally settled. We are looking to states that have indicated their interest to host that match. We have three matches to play in Nigeria. Two away starting with the Gabon match on March 5 on our soil, we are yet to decide where that match is taking place but certainly it is likely going to be outside Abuja. We are looking for a place where a state will host us, a place that will be conducive for our team to do well. Of course we need every point as we move into the last phase of the qualifying series. We are looking forward to a good match. I believe having gone to Gabon to beat them on their soil I have this feeling that we might likely also replicate that in Nigeria to pick the maximum points which will take us to lead the group depending on how Angola plays their home match as well. Of course don’t forget that Angola is also coming to Nigeria, so we do hope that it will be an opportunity to bridge that one point gap. I am very optimistic that we have a very good team to qualify for 2006 world cup. I do have this feeling and will also have to appreciate the goodwill the players enjoy from Nigerians. The encouraging remarks that has made the team come this far. The boys are in top shape, they are realy prepared. Nigeriasports.com: Friendlies before the match? Galadima: Well I guess we have to appreciate that the best we can have is to have only one friendly perhaps. We cannot have this friendly outside FIFA free day and the only FIFA free day is Febuary 9th and that is just around the corner. And getting quality team for that matter to play the super Eagles is not easy because we don’t want to play just any team. We want a team that will give them that opposition that they are looking for. The teams we are looking for are not available at the moment. They all have their commitments. Secondly the venue of that match is important because if you have a match outside where the bulk of our players are, movement from their basis to that venue will be a problem. We don’t want at this stage to present a team that is not good enough to lose a friendly match and then Nigerians will start having this fear and doubt about how ready the team is. We are still looking forward to a possibility of having a match in London or nearby where the players will be available depending on how good the opposition is likely going to be. We have not closed the door yet we are still working towards the possibility of getting a match for February 9th. We also thought earlier on of wanting to have an African team to play the super Eagles, since we are playing an African team in March but the point again is moving the players down from Europe to come and play in Africa and go back. This is why NFA has to wait until when we are able to confirm this and then the resources to also make that possible has to be looked into. We have to be very cautious about how the funding of this programme is likely going to be.
Nigeriasports.com: Plans for home based, possibility of Team B for the super eagles? Galadima: Well when people talk about having a team B people are forgetting that you cannot have a standing team per say. We have a deliberate policy of assembling entire home-based squad. We started with the LG cup. We deliberately refused to invite any foreign based because we wanted to give the home based a chance. But since that is not likely going to be very often, the best you could do now is to ask the coaches to pick outstanding players we have in the league to be fused into the national team which is also happening now. Again our coaches seem to be more informed about the foreign based players because they see them very often playing their league rather than going round the country to see the premier league going on in Nigeria. If they do that, I am sure they will be able to pick out some good players. The issue again is whether we have the resources to keep that going. We will do that when the finances improve yes, but we would want the coaches to use their own initiative. There are some of the things you don't need money to be made available for you because a coach can have a walk to a stadium in his own state or nearby state to see teams play on his own because he is the one in charge, he doesn't have to wait for NFA to provide money for that. But we will look into that as we move into the year and se how we can help and develop the local boys to fit into the senior team. 0
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