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Africa: Lulu - No Compromise on World Cup
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This Day (Lagos)
15 May 2008
Posted to the web 15 May 2008
Emeka Enechi
Lagos
Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) Sanni Abdullahi Lulu has assured Nigerians that the FA would stop at nothing to ensure that the country qualifies for South Africa 2010 World Cup.
Lulu made the pronouncement while speaking with sports journalists in Lagos yesterday. He said the association felt first hand the harrowing experience Nigerians passed through as a result of Super Eagles non qualification to Germany 2006, and assured that such experience would not be allowed to repeat itself. His words "The preliminaries of the South Africa 2010 World Cup will commence at the end of this month. I want to assure Nigerians that we are responsive to our responsibilities and we want to make it clear that we will live up to expectations. The coaching crew and the players are all aware of the high expectations and I can assure you that the FA will not rest on its oars to ensure that Nigeria qualifies for the world cup in 2010. We owe it as a duty and by the grace of God, we will not disappoint on this."
However, Lulu admitted that the FA has an uphill task in dealing with the financial demands and logistics for the national team during the period. He said that for the over N6 billion budget the association ear marked for its activities this year, government would only provide over N1 billion. He therefore said it would amount to an uphill task to surmount the enormous challenges we have during engaging countries in the qualifiers. "We know the enormity of the challenges we are facing and that is why we appealing to Multinational and Corporate Organizations to assist us in realizing our dream of taking the game and the Super Eagles to the next level. We all know that the Super Eagles is an international brand and we have world class players that can stand on their own any day. There is no doubt that the companies that will come on board to sponsor some of our programmes will have every reason to be happy with us."
Meanwhile, the FA chairman informed yesterday that the association resolved to revisit the team's code of conduct which he said would enhance the performance of the players. "We decided to revisit the code of conduct because of what the nation stand to gain from it. Of course, we knew the level of controversy it caused it the past but we are not shying away from it because we know what the nation stood to gain from it.
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On the controversy surrounding Mikel Obi's non inclusion in the Beijing bound Olympics team, Lulu washed his hands off the matter saying the issue was beyond the FA. He said the responsibility lied in the hands of coach Sampson Siasia whom he said was in charge of the team. "Given the circumstance surrounding the issue, the coach said it would be destructive for him to include the player in his arrangement. He explained that the arrangement goes beyond what Nigerians see and read on the pages of newspapers. The coach had a plan and he executed the plans with the players he assembled from the out set. Now, remember that Taye Taiwo and other players including Victor Anichebe among others remained steadfast with the coach's arrangement. But, Mikel had always come up with one excuse or the other. We are not interfering in what the coaches are doing and for the first time, we want to give them the enabling environment to perform their duties."
On Shaibu Amodu's appointment, Lulu dismissed agitations in some quarters over Amodu's pedigree and qualification, insisting that the Edo born football manager remains one of Nigeria's best. He also maintained that the FA would support and encourage the coach to facilitate his assignment. "The FA would ensure that Amodu succeeds in his assignment. We have already set the precedent. And by the grace of God the coach will have only himself to blame if he fails to succeed at the end of the day."
Furthermore, the FA chairman said he had nothing to regret over former Super Eagles manager Berti Vogt's contract. He said he would take the same action given the condition under which he contracted the German to tinker Nigeria for the period before he was eventually fired.
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