Playing football does not automatically qualify anyone to lead the NFF. But when a former player has also acquired management experience, understands accountability and can build a competent team, he deserves to be assessed on those qualifications rather than dismissed because of his playing background.
By Paul Lucky Okoku
I occasionally hear the argument that former footballers cannot run the Nigeria Football Federation. That is a legitimate concern.
There will certainly be former players who are not suited to administration, just as there are non-footballers who may not be suited to it either.
I know for a fact that there are many former Nigerian players, both at home and across the diaspora, who already possess the education, management experience, judgment, discipline and sense of accountability required for serious football administration.
If I were advising any of these qualified former players — someone with management experience, a solid educational background, a broad frame of reference, and a strong sense of responsibility and accountability — I would not begin by asking how many matches he played for Nigeria.
I would ask for six things:
* the NFF organizational chart;
* the approved budget and financial position;
* departmental responsibilities;
* current staffing and key personnel;
* current contracts and liabilities; and
* the federation’s strategic priorities.
Then, with those facts in front of us, we can begin to make informed management decisions.
THE NFF PRESIDENT DOES NOT DO EVERYBODY’S JOB
One of the first management principles I would emphasize is delegation.
In preparing this management model, I deliberately looked at the current NFF setup — the structure inherited and left behind by the immediate past leadership under Ibrahim Gusau — because I wanted this discussion to be based on the NFF as it actually exists, not on theory.
Recent official NFF records identify leadership functions covering Finance and Administration, Competitions, Media and Communications, Legal Services, Marketing and Sponsorship, Member Associations, International Competitions and other areas. The Secretariat is presently being overseen by interim General Secretary Emmanuel Ikpeme.
An incoming leader therefore does not walk into an empty organization. He inherits departments, reporting relationships, contracts, liabilities, staff and responsibilities.
The first task is straightforward: understand what is already there, determine what is working, identify what is not, and manage from that reality.
The President is not supposed to personally prepare accounts, arrange every national-team trip, draft every contract, negotiate every sponsorship or issue every press release.
A practical approach would be to appoint competent professionals, delegate clearly, monitor performance and hold people accountable for the responsibilities entrusted to them.
The organizational structure should work like a pyramid. Information begins at the operational level, moves through departmental leadership and reaches senior management in increasingly condensed and useful form. Decisions then move back down with a clear owner, deadline and expected result.
The President also does not govern alone. The Executive Committee — often referred to as the Board — has governance responsibilities of its own. Its members should provide oversight, contribute expertise, challenge proposals when necessary and participate in major policy decisions within the NFF statutes.
Good management therefore requires a clear distinction between governance by the Board and day-to-day administration by the Secretariat.
The President should be dealing with significant decisions, strategy and relationships — not chasing airline tickets.
EVERY RESPONSIBILITY NEEDS AN OWNER
I would introduce a simple management tool: RACI — Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed.
Take a Super Eagles international match.
Who owns the logistics? Who is ultimately accountable? Who must Finance consult before spending? When does Legal become involved? Who needs to be informed?
Once those responsibilities are clearly documented, it becomes harder for five people to claim credit when something succeeds and nobody to accept responsibility when it fails.
The same principle applies to performance and money.
If Marketing has an illustrative ₦5 billion commercial-revenue target, I want to know how much was targeted, how many proposals were submitted, how many agreements were signed, how much was contracted and how much cash was actually collected.
If Finance must close monthly accounts, give it a deadline — perhaps 10 working days.
If Technical Development promises to train 500 coaches, report how many actually completed the programme.
Financial management should also include clear procurement rules, internal controls and regular independent audit. Every significant payment should have proper authorization, supporting documentation and a clear link to an approved budget or programme.
Management should always know the difference between:
* what was budgeted;
* what was actually received;
* what was spent;
* what remains available; and
* what is still owed.
The figures are illustrative. The principle is simple:
Targets must be measurable, spending must be traceable, and responsibility must be clear.
*MANAGE PROBLEMS BEFORE THEY BECOME CRISES*
I would also require a simple RAID register: Risks, Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies.
Football administration is full of them. A visa delay may be a risk. An outstanding coach payment is an issue. Stadium approval may be a dependency.
Expected funding arriving by a certain date may be an assumption.
Every significant item should have an owner and a target date for resolution or follow-up.
For major national-team campaigns and development programmes, I would also maintain an integrated master schedule showing critical milestones, deadlines and dependencies.
The President does not need to sit in front of hundreds of scheduling lines.
Management should bring forward the milestones that are threatened, explain why they are threatened and identify the decisions required.
A risk is something that may happen. An issue is something that has already happened.
That is the purpose of a good management system: make potential problems visible early enough to manage them before they become actual issues.
*WHEN THE EXPERTISE IS MISSING, BRING IT IN*
No President should pretend to know everything.
If the NFF needs specialized expertise in television rights, commercial restructuring, forensic accounting, sports science, digital transformation, procurement or another technical area, bring in someone who understands it.
That may mean using a consultant.
Consulting can be project-based, short-term, retained or longer-term depending on the requirement.
But every engagement should have:
* a defined scope;
* an agreed cost;
* specific deliverables;
* a completion date; and
* measurable value to the organization.
If a ₦40 million consulting assignment helps create ₦1 billion in additional commercial value, there may be a strong business case.
But if the consultant delivers a report that simply ends up sitting in somebody’s drawer, what exactly did the organization gain?
The purpose of bringing in outside expertise should be to solve a defined problem, transfer knowledge where appropriate and produce measurable value.
*WHY PLAYING EXPERIENCE MATTERS*
Playing football does not automatically make somebody a good administrator. But it gives a former player a frame of reference that someone who has never lived the game may not naturally have.
And sometimes, that is where the disconnect begins.
An administrator who has never been inside a national-team camp may look at unpaid bonuses, allowances or a coach’s salary and think, we will sort it out later.
But to the player or coach, it is not simply an accounting problem.
It affects the mind.
Think about preparing for a major international match while part of your attention is on money already owed to you. You are supposed to be concentrating on training, recovery, tactics and the opponent. Instead, you are also wondering when management will honor what it promised.
That can create:
* anxiety and distraction;
* loss of trust in management;
* low morale;
* frustration inside the camp;
* reduced concentration; and
* unnecessary tension between players, coaches and administrators.
The coach is not immune either.
He should be studying the opposition, planning training sessions, meeting with players and working out his tactical approach. If he has gone months without salary, are we really going to pretend that it has no effect on him?
Footballers and coaches are human beings.
If somebody working in an office goes months without being paid, nobody expects that person to carry on as though everything is normal. Why should football be different?
A former player does not need somebody to explain what an unsettled camp feels like. He has been there. He understands what uncertainty can do to preparation, morale and trust.
The same principle exists outside football.
A manager who once worked as a server in a restaurant may understand immediately how understaffing, delayed tips, poor scheduling or disrespect from management affects employees because that manager has lived it.
That experience does not automatically make the person a better manager. But it gives him a frame of reference.
And poor morale does not stop with the employee. The customer can feel it too. Service may become slower, the smile may disappear and the overall experience can suffer.
Football is not so different.
When players and coaches are distracted, frustrated or demoralized because legitimate obligations have not been met, preparation can suffer. Performance can suffer.
And eventually, the supporters can suffer too. They may watch a team perform below its potential. Sometimes that may even end in defeat.
That does not mean every defeat is caused by unpaid bonuses or salaries. Football has too many variables for that.
But it would be unrealistic to pretend that morale, trust and peace of mind have nothing to do with performance.
They do.
International exposure is an added advantage, not a requirement. What matters is understanding the game, understanding the people who play it and understanding the conditions they need in order to perform at their best.
That does not mean a non-footballer cannot understand player welfare or become an effective administrator. The standard should be competence, judgment, management experience and accountability — regardless of background.
MANAGEMENT SHOULD COME DOWN TO RESULTS
In the end, all of these systems must produce results — and the leader must be willing to be judged by them.
Regular communication is part of that process. I would expect disciplined onsite and virtual meetings — operational reviews where necessary, monthly financial and performance reviews, and periodic strategic meetings.
Not meetings for the sake of meetings. Meetings should have an agenda, assigned actions, deadlines and follow-up.
If someone accepted responsibility at the previous meeting, the next meeting should ask one simple question: What happened?
The same principle applies to appointments. If a coach is hired through favoritism instead of merit and the results fail, leadership cannot simply say: I was not the coach. I was not the player.
If leadership approved the appointment and the process, leadership must also accept responsibility for the outcome.
Many Nigerian football supporters held Ibrahim Gusau accountable on that basis when results fell short.
If the team succeeds, leadership shares the credit. If the appointment fails, the responsibility still reaches the top.
Ultimately, the buck stops with the leader. That is why merit-based hiring matters.
That is where another management principle becomes important: Inspect what you expect.
Delegating responsibility does not mean walking away from it.
In my view, the process should be straightforward: set the expectation, assign responsibility, provide the resources, inspect the work, evaluate the result and hold the responsible person accountable.
And that standard must begin at the top. A leader cannot demand punctuality and arrive whenever he chooses.
He cannot demand accountability from others while avoiding accountability himself.
Leadership begins by example.
A degree matters. Business or management education can certainly help. But years of managing people, projects, budgets, deadlines, competing interests and consequences can become an education of their own.
Education gives you a foundation. Experience teaches you what happens when the plan meets reality.
So, having laid out the current NFF management roadmap, I would ask any former footballer contemplating NFF leadership:
Do you understand the organization? Can you manage the people and the money? Can you build the right team? Can you delegate? Can you lead by example? Can you be held accountable?
If the answer is yes, perhaps the question should no longer be: Can a former footballer run the NFF?
Perhaps it should be: Why should a qualified former footballer be told that he cannot lead the NFF simply because some still see his playing background as a stigma rather than an asset?
*Paul Lucky Okoku is a
FIFA Legend | Former Nigeria Flying Eagles Vice-Captain | Former Super Eagles International | AFCON Silver Medalist | Football Historian | Football Analyst | Journalist-at-Large | Founder & CEO, Greater Tomorrow Children’s Foundation (GTCF)
