19th April, 2012
President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Aminu Maigari, has disclosed that the body has concluded plans to curb the menace of age cheats in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s football teams in recent times have been enmeshed in allegations of age-cheating and Maigari, in a tacit admission of guilt, informed that measures are being taken.
“We will stop the invitation of any player from the league to the U-17 team,” he said.
He said henceforth, players invited to the cadet team must produce authentic credentials with issuing dates not less than 10 years prior.
Additionally, such players would be required to currently be in secondary school, and be in a position to write and be photographed with at least 10 of his or her classmates.
For the U-20s and U-23s, players would be required to state their institutions of learning, provide first SSCE results with names of at least 10 classmates.
A list of siblings with names and dates of birth would also be required to be listed in the declaration form.
“It is our determination to put these machinery in motion, backed up by MRI machines to ensure that we detect age cheats in our football,” Maigari said. “It is damaging to our football and we have to stop it.”