Nigerian Football

NFF SETS MARCH 2018 FOR RELOCATION TO DANKARO HOUSE

Published

6 years ago

December 20, 2017

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

The Nigeria Football Federation will in March 2018 relocate to its permanent facilities at the Package B of the National Stadium, Abuja.

The new headquarters, Dankaro House, was hurriedly commissioned on July 18, 2013, even though the previous administration and the current one lay claim to some defects in the building that needed rectification apart from the need to get befitting furniture.

Sports Village Square gathered from the president of the organisation, Amaju Pinnick that the movement will be in phases as some staff will still have to operate from the current facility at Zone 7 in Abuja.

When the movement is effected, Sports Village Square can authoritatively declare that the Dankaro House with be the fifth secretariat the football governing body would occupy since Nigeria’s independence in 1960.

In the 1960s, the football governing body operated from the then Lagos City Stadium that changed name to Onikan Stadium. By the 1970s, the secretariat moved to a prefabricated wooden complex under the eastern pavilion of the National Stadium terraces.

From there, the secretariat moved in 1991 to the twin duplex at Ogunlana Drive in Surulere Lagos which the then NFA had acquired as national team hostel in the 1960s. The twin duplex now serves as the organisation’s Lagos liaison office. On Thursday January 2, 1997, the body moved to its current location in Abuja.

The issue of an enduring secretariat for the NFF had been on long before the current administration.

The late Commodore Edwin Kentebe, as the chairman of the then NFA in 1973 claimed that his administration had plans to rebuild the two-storey block at Ogunlana Drive. The proposal remained on the drawing board till he left office that year.

Over a decade later, the then Group Captain Ikazoboh set a fund-raising committee in 1986 for a football house. The project, a five-storey building, largely of concrete, was to be within the National Stadium complex in Lagos.

Chief Nathaniel Idowu headed the committee. But before it could begin work, the committee was sacked along with the Ikazoboh’s board that established it.

The initially proposed office block for the then NFA under Anthony Ikhazoboh

In 1989, when Ikazoboh was reappointed as NFA chairman, another committee set up was headed by Alhaji Mohammed Grema. It suffered the same fate as its predecessor.

By the turn of the century, the idea of a football house seemed to have been abandoned. It never featured in the handover of succeeding administrators.

The regime of Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima on October 15, 2003 got the approval of The Goal Bureau of FIFA to build a technical centre in Abuja. The then NFA came up with an architectural design of a building tagged “The Eagle House”.

It was to incorporate a training camp. The project did not see the light of the day before the board was ousted.

The architect impression of the “Eagle House”, a proposed secretariat of the NFA under Ibrahim Galadima.

In 2012, a third architectural design of a proposed headquarters for the football governing body was unveiled. Like the technical centre which is part of the Abuja National Stadium complex, it is also part of the FIFA Goal Project in Nigeria as the approval for the construction of the federation headquarters was approved by FIFA on December 1, 2009.

According to FIFA, the project is estimated at $650,000 out of which the Goal Bureau of FIFA will pay $400,000 leaving the remaining $250,000 for the NFF to bear. But the NFF later sought for amendment to the original project and proposed a national technical centre in Bauchi.

So, in February 2012 when the foundation for the new secretariat was being laid, the credit was given to the National Sports Commission and the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Nigeria’s participation at the World Cup 2010 as the financier.

The project estimated at N350 million is named Sunday Dankaro House, after the man with the longest tenure as the head of the Nigerian football governing body. It was under him that the country first won the African Cup of Nations in 1980.

The Sunday Dankaro House was a legacy project of Rotimi Amaechi’s Presidential Task Force.

According to a member of the PTF, Olusegun Adeniyi, the edifice is built on a gross floor area of 2,000 square metres and boasts of a helipad, a courtyard, a penthouse and a manicured park.

The ground floor has a conference room and 12 self contained offices with associate conveniences while the first floor has 14 of such offices. Also on the first floor are a big conference hall and the office of the General Secretary.

The second floor is the penthouse which accommodates office of the President. It also has two conference halls. More than two years after its completion, the NFF failed to move into the complex on account of not having the fun to furnish the offices.

Nigerian Football

Remo Stars close to winning their first Nigeria Premier League title

Published

23 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Remo Stars on Friday inch closer to achieving their first ever title in the Nigeria elite division league after beating visiting Niger Tornadoes 3-0 to move second on the log and just a point behind league leaders, Enugu Rangers.

Remo Stars are now with 53 points and still have an outstanding home game to play.

Friday’s win which comes on the eve of the proprietor’s birthday has put the team back into contention for the title.

They have progressively become prominent in the Nigerian premier league having placed third two seasons ago and second last season.

Top finish this season will confirm their progression and also a third consecutive continental outing.

Top scorer, Sikiru Alimi launched them of victory path as his 28^th minute penalty kick heralded their return to high scoring ways.

It has been a while since they scored high in the league. Barely three minutes later, Sikiru, a contender for the top scorer award increased the tally to two.

Ahmed Akinyele completed the route in the 75^th minute.

Nigerian Football

Nigeria face tough defence as Burkina Faso lie in wait at U17 WAFU B AFCON qualifiers

Published

4 days ago

April 23, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Defending champions Nigeria have been handed a difficult path to the 2025 U17 Africa Cup of Nations finals after being drawn in the same group as Burkina Faso for next month’s WAFU B qualifying tournament in Ghana.

The Golden Eaglets, who won the last edition of the regional championship in 2022, will also face Togo and Niger in Group B of the competition which runs from 15-28 May.

Hosts Ghana find themselves in Group A alongside Cote d’Ivoire and Benin in a tough-looking section of the competition to be played in Accra.

The draw was conducted by 1970s Ivorian football legends Kobenan Kouman and Die Foneye at the Ivorian FA headquarters in Abidjan on Friday.

Nigeria claimed their WAFU B U17 AFCON title by defeating Burkina Faso 2-1 in the regional final in Ghana two years ago.

However, they will need to overcome some familiar foes if they are to defend their crown and with the Burkina Faso finishing third at the last TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations, some exciting matches are expected.

Arch-rivals Nigeria and Ghana are among the two favourites and could meet in the final in Accra on 28 May, should they top their respective groups and make it through the semi-finals.

Ghana also have pedigree at this level, having the World Cup in 1991 and 1995 as they bid to reach the U17 AFCON finals on home soil.

The top two teams from the WAFU B tournament will qualify for next year’s U17 Africa Cup of Nations.

Groups:

Group A: Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin

Group B: Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Togo, Niger.

Nigerian Football

Former Nigeria international, Onye recommends Amuneke-Siasia combo for Super Eagles

Published

5 days ago

April 22, 2024

Kunle Solaja

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Kingsley Onye, the left sided defender who was a member of the first Flying Eagles side to have a podium finish at the U-20 World Cup has suggested the employment of Emmanuel Amuneke as the coach of the Super Eagles.

He wants him to be assisted by Samson Siasia when the ban on the latter lapses in August. Alternatively, Onye pointed to Sylvanus Okpala as alternative to Siasia.

The Super Eagles are in dare need for a head coach as the clock ticks down to the Match day 4 and 5 of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in which the team is trailing at the third position.

The two matches in early June are crucial for the Super Eagles to bounce back into reckoning as the team can not afford to drop any of the available six points in the duels with South Africa at home and away to Benin.

From this Monday, it is 41 days to the potentially challenging tie with South Africa, but the Nigerian national team has been without a coach since the expiration of the contract of Portugal’s Jose Peseiro shortly after the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.

Without mincing words, Onye remarked: “Emmanuel Amuneke is the right man for the job of the coach of Super Eagles. He has been there before.

“He tasted it and had been fantastic with the Nigeria youth team, the U-17 by assisting Manu Garba to win the U17 World Cup in 2013 and as head coach, led the Golden Eaglets to win the cup again in 2015.”

Onye who played for the Enugu Rangers in Nigeria before venturing to the UK but had his career scuppered by freak injury pointed out that the solution to Super Eagles’ technical deficiency is the appointment of an indigenous coach and that Amuneke is the man.

In buttressing his assertion, he declared: “As a senior team coach, Amuneke qualified a long standing absentee team, Tanzania for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

“His record as a player is also very impressive. He played and won with the Super Eagles, the AFCON 1994. He played at the Olympic Games and was also the first Nigerian to score two goals at the World Cup.

“He has played at the African Games and also for top clubs in the continent as he was a member of the Egyptian giants, Zamalek. In Europe, he played for Sporting Clube de Portugal and then Barcelona before injury ended his playing career.”

Onye also looked at the personality of Amuneke in recommending him for the Super Eagles job.

His record as a player is also very impressive. He played and won with the Super Eagles, the AFCON 1994. He played at the Olympic Games and was also the first Nigerian to score two goals at the World Cup.

He has played at the African Games and also for top clubs in the continent as he was a member of the Egyptian giants, Zamalek. In Europe, he played for Sporting Clube de Portugal and then Barcelona before injury ended his playing career.