My take on the Super Eagles 'code of conduct'.

   From when I was a kid, the NFF, then NFA, has been the bane of Nigerian football. Nigerians had no faith in the NFA so much that they were nicknamed No Future Ambition. The game, idolized by all; old and young, male and female, has been a political toy in the hands of  grossly corrupt and incompetent Football administrators in the country. The manner in which the men and women of the Glass House run football is very appalling.
   In the days of Stephen Keshi as the Super Eagles skippo, he was accused by the football house as running a mafia in the team. Sunday Oliseh was accused of being a rebel leader because he stood his ground against reneging on agreements by the never-straight NFF. Today, Vincent Enyeama and Mikel Obi have been booked by NFF for having a stand on bonus issues. A panel was set up, led by an honorable gentleman, Olusegun Adeniyi, to look into the bonus row. Amongst other things, his panel recommended that the Eagles should not be paid bonus for any match the outcome is a draw and proposed a players' code of conduct. On the former, one asks; where a draw determines Nigeria's participation in an event, say the world cup, so the players will not be paid? Even if the draw is deemed to be unimportant, the boys still won't be paid? On both cases, the recommendation of the panel,above anything else is selfish. On the latter, why on earth will you not pay players because they slugged out a draw? A lot of workers report to office by 10 am, leave before closing time and at the end of the month they receive a bumper salary.
   Another question that begs an answer is, who draws up the said code of conduct? The NFF? In as much as I am for good players behaviour while in camp, I don't subscribe to primary-school-like COC where adult,bread winning footballers are treated like kids. Also, I hope the code of conduct will equally lay down guidelines for the NFF to follow. A situation where NFF officials sent to prosecute matches abroad are two times the number of players and technical crew combined is highly irresponsible. Quite frankly, i believe the NFF should not be allowed to come up with a COC to bear down on the players in a master-slave relationship where the NFF is the master and overlord, even though they are the highest football running body in the country. However it is done, the interest of the players should be considered. Fact remains that the NFF has over the years, proved to be an irresponsible body. A body comprised of square pegs in round holes. To solve the issue of bonus rows within the Eagles, the NFF should look inwards, eschew selfishness and corruption. When Nigerians see that NFF is now a 'changed body', erring players will be castigated by football loving Nigerians themselves.
   Until we see otherwise, it remains both a fact and a truth that the problem of Nigerian football is the Nigerian Football Federation.