Nigerian coaches are underdeveloped, need retraining, says Onigbinde

Chief Onigbinde

Former Super Eagles Coach, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, has blamed the country’s failure in continental competitions on inadequate coaching programmes in the country.

He called on stakeholders, especially the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Sports Ministry, to establish modern coaching programmes for trainers at all levels.

Speaking in the wake of Rivers United’s ouster from the CAF Confederation Cup by Tanzania’s Young African FC in the quarterfinals, Onigbinde said Nigerian would continue to stutter in international competitions if steps were not taking to organise quality coaching programmes to keep coaches abreast with modern trends in football.

He believes the country can develop good coaches capable of competing successfully with their counterparts overseas, adding, however, that it can only happen when the NFF and other stakeholders in football realise the importance of grooming and training coaches.

“I am not blaming any coach that participated in any CAF organised championship this season. I feel quality coaching helps to make teams successful despite the odds and you cannot expect miracles from people when you did not equip them for the job,” he said.

Onigbinde will not be drawn into the debate of whether clubs are better served by foreign coaches, saying it is purely the choice of the clubs to decide who manages their teams.

“If a Nigerian club decides to employ foreign coaches for continental engagements, it is purely its decision.

“For me, apart from developing players that I have been shouting about, I believe the NFF needs to also pay keen attention to training and retraining of coaches.

“The country, for a long time, has not had a high level CAF organised training programme or a high level