Good tidings from FIFA for Nigerian football

REUTERS/Ruben Sprich

Last Thursday, purely out of curiosity and the unusual invitation I received from Augustine Eguavoen, former captain, as well as former manager of the Super Eagles, for whom I have a lot of respect, I attended a Nigeria Football Federation programme for the first time in ages. The invitation aroused my curiosity.

FIFA is promoting and funding a new development programme targeted at the global grassroots. It involves supporting member associations to identify, educate and train young football talents, and nurture them to become the best. This automatically means proper involvement of schools and football academies in the country’s football development agenda and architecture.

It was all sweet music to my ears.  I dropped everything I was doing and headed to Abuja for the one-day workshop. I am glad I did.

Air Peace Ambassador
I had not been to Abuja for a while. This was my second trip only, and my second opportunity since July 28, 2023, to experience, first-hand, travelling as an Air Peace Ambassador.

On July 28, 2023, Dr. Allen Onyema, Chairman of the biggest airline in Nigeria presently, and one of the fastest growing on the African continent, Air Peace, celebrated, honoured and decorated a group of forgotten national sports heroes. He made them Air Peace Ambassadors with the unprecedented benefits of flying to any destination in Nigeria without any limitation for the rest of their lives. There is also the additional privilege of doing so in style by flying in Business Class whenever a vacant seat is available. Such generosity has never been seen in history. My American friends, world-renowned athletes, find it hard to believe that any such reward was possible. That’s the magnitude of Allen Onyema’s