18th February, 2013
FIFA/CAF Technical Instructor, Adegboye Onigbinde has advised the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, to jettison the idea of hiring a foreign coach or a Technical Director for the country’s football.
The former Technical Director of the NFF said time has come for Nigeria to develop her own local coaches to manage the national teams and the technical department of the NFF instead of thinking of a whiteman who has nothing to offer to change the face of Nigerian football.
“We have hired foreign coaches in the past to manage the Super Eagles. Although some of the foreign coaches came here and did well, while some of them had nothing to offer us. I think the issue of hiring a foreign coach or a Technical Director to manage our football should stop now because Nigerian coaches are better than foreign coaches if they are given the enabling environment to work,” he said.
Onigbinde, who was in charge of the Super Eagles during the FIFA 2002 World Cup held in Japan/Korea, said if Stephen Keshi could go all the way to win the just concluded Africa Nations Cup held in South Africa, Nigerian coaches have come of age and they should be given the chance to manage the position of Technical Director or handle the senior national team.
—Sunday Akintoye