Senate passes NFF Bill

The Senate on Thursday passed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Bill 2014 in a bid to bring an end to the current crisis rocking football administration in the country.The Bill which repealed the Nigeria Football Association Act 2004 was passed after a clause-by-clause consideration by lawmakers.

Presiding over plenary, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu said the passage of the Bill was a great achievement for football administration in the country.

Ekweremadu said: “I will like to thank all of us for this milestone. I believe that this helps the development of our football and the entire crisis we’ve had in the past, I believe that this will bring it to an end.

“There is now seem to be a law that will help to create some sanity in the administration of football and I believe this brings to an end, all confusions and dispute that has tried in the past to mar football administration in Nigeria.

“I like to congratulate all of us and I do hope that our football administrators will take full advantage of this law to ensure that we advance our football to world standard.

“So once more, congratulations to all Nigerians and all football lovers across the world.”

Speaking after the passage of the Bill, Chairman, Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Adamu Gumba explained that the new law would stop friction in the succession problem as it has fixed a tenure for the NFF executive.

Gumba said: “It is a Bill that is trying to improve on the Nigerian Football Association Act. It seeks to improve on that particular Act, to make sure that most of the provisions of the law comply with FIFA regulations.

“We hear FIFA each time it intervenes in Nigeria’s football administration that it is going to sanction national federation.

“We have received similar threats this year. That happens when some regulations of FIFA seem to be violated by individual federation.

“In Nigeria, they observed that we were violating these regulations and they threatened to sanction us.

So this particular Bill is trying to remove those areas, to make sure that our football administrators now try as much as possible to work in accordance with the governing regulations and laws of FIFA.

“In trying to streamline our activities, to make sure that we work hand in hand because we are recognized and a voluntary member of that particular organization and if we are, then we must have to comply with the regulations governing football worldwide.”

Gumba further explained that the Bill was handled by the NFA alongside the Senate Committee on Sports, adding that the relevant stakeholders in the football sector made input after looking at the various provisions of the law and agreed with what the Senate proposed.

source:The Nation