Siji Lagunju offers to help redirect Nigerian football

Nigerian football is at that juncture where every decision taken by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and stakeholders in every aspect of the country’s football must be right. This is because though the country is blessed with talents in all areas of the game, the national teams and clubs have not lived up to their promise in recent times owing to certain past missteps.

However, the future looks as bright as ever, as Nigeria still possess in abundance all the ingredients needed to build a great footballing nation.

At a time when the country is searching for the right drivers of the journey to the promised land, in steps Siju Lagunju, a former international, who played for IICC Shooting Stars, the defunct Leventis United, International Breweries, Ilesha, Bendel Insurance, Iwuanyanwu Nationale and Stationery Stores.

Until recently, Lagunju, a graduate of University of Ife, who holds the only CAF Pro License in Nigeria, was a member of the technical department.

Fondly called the ‘Best,’ owing to his vast football knowledge and experience, Lagunju has for a long time been calling for a review of the way we play the game, with particular reference to the state of the training and playing pitches.

The coach, who has worked with such renowned trainers as the late Kashimawo Laloko and Amodu Shuaibu, as well as James Peters and Adeboye Onigbinde, said he thrives in taking care of the smallest detail, writing and reading good technical reports and using his over 100 slides to plot match strategies.

Looking at the current state of the game, Lagunju said: “Nigerian football is no longer as good as it used to be. In the technical department of the NFF, when Coach Eguavoen came in as head, Paul Aigbogun, Rafiu Yusuf, Garba Lawal and I