28/08/2026
COMPREHENSIVE REFORM OF NIGERIAN FOOTBALL
President Bola Tinubu has directed a comprehensive reform of Nigerian football to overcome repeated failures to qualify for major regional, continental and world tournaments.
Tinubu directed the Chairman of the National Sports Commission to work with the Nigeria Football Federation Secretariat and relevant football stakeholders to ensure continuity in essential football administration while facilitating a broad, consultative reform process.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, revealed this in a statement he signed Thursday titled ‘President Tinubu Directs Comprehensive Football Reform.’
He cited deep structural deficits despite the sport’s enormous public support and national attention.
“The reform must respond to a longstanding need to strengthen governance, administration, stakeholder representation, development pathways, domestic competitions and accountability across Nigerian football,” the President insisted.
Tinubu compared football’s struggles with the progress recorded across other sports since the reset of the sector under the re-established National Sports Commission, describing the sport’s continued underperformance as a product of internal weaknesses rather than a lack of resources or talent.
President Bola Tinubu has directed a comprehensive reform of Nigerian football to overcome repeated failures to qualify for major regional, continental and world tournaments.
Tinubu directed the Chairman of the National Sports Commission to work with the Nigeria Football Federation Secretariat and relevant football stakeholders to ensure continuity in essential football administration while facilitating a broad, consultative reform process.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, revealed this in a statement he signed Thursday titled ‘President Tinubu Directs Comprehensive Football Reform.’