By Godwin Bamigboye

Harrison Jalla, the PFAN Task Force Chairman is indeed a relentless and dogged fighter and I perceive that he will keep fighting untill the task is accomplished. I like his fighting spirit and that of his team members. I salute their resolve to go for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

I have seen the rich human resources in the Nigerian Football Family and I am not going to mince words that if the human and material resources available to us are well harnessed, we shall rank among the best Footballing Nations in Africa and also accelerate to one of the best in the global Football circle. The fact that we do a lot of things the wrong way, we have been engulfed in arguments and altercations rather than articulate our human and material endowments for the development of our people and the Nation.

We have just been reminded about the next hearing on the suit before the Appellate Court. I guess that the question the Court will be asking is how much have the parties achieved in the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)? The Learned Ones here must forgive me if I am not getting it right. However, one thing (word) stands out clear, “Resolution”.
Another question I will ask is, what progress has been made so far with the ADR?. Very important question. I believe it is being handled appropriately.

The Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria (PFAN), I believe have good intention to end the crisis and move forward in progress. I am therefore looking forward to us having only ONE Player’s Union. I don’t want to go into any details. Those of us in the Football circle know the true position of things. My concern about the PFAN and the NFF about the suit in Court requires the understanding of the parties and determine to end this prolonged distractions to the growth of Football in Nigeria.
This is the REAL SOLUTION. I mean it and I repeat it. THE REAL SOLUTION. What is the Real Solution? The real solution is encapsulated in one sentence: Do the Right thing. The Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria (PFAN) has listed a number of issues that needs to be addressed.
They include the need for parity of statutory members in representation in Congress of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), among other things. To gain parity involves the amendment of the Statutes of the Nigeria Football Federation which will be done by the stakeholders themselves and may not necessarily accommodate hook line and sinker PFAN’s prayers to the Court. Here comes the unlearned man again, I guess somebody may have made that statement as he or she reads this individual perspective. Yes! The final solution still rests with the stakeholders. I began to ponder on the structure of globally. We have the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) and as an Administrator, I see the structure of Football as follows:

FIFA
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Confederations
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Federations
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Associations (States)
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Council (Local Government).

I believe I got it right as it concerns Nigeria. If this is the structure, I want to believe that parity can be attained by full participation of the other statutory members. How? I advise members of the Player’s Union to be active participants at the lower levels of the Football structure. Pascal Patrick, Edema Fuludu and some of the State Football Association Chairmen and Board members belong to the Player’s Union. Encourage more of your members to be leaders at the lower levels. They can affect the growth of Football with a down to up approach.

Let me now tell us what I term as the REAL SOLUTION for now. When you go into the Football field and the spectators occupy all the available seats in the stadium and the Players, Coaches and Referees are not there, you have only succeeded to gather a crowd of people. The importance of these major actors (Players, Coaches and Referees) cannot be understated. They are indeed the major stakeholders.
What the stakeholders need to do now is to simply AMEND THE NFF STATUTES and return these THREE MAJOR ACTORS as AUTOMATIC MEMBERS OF THE BOARD of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
When this is achieved, I foresee peace and accelerated development of football in Nigeria.
This is my own Alternative Dispute Resolution(ADR).