25th November, 2013
Former Director General of National Sports Commission, NSC, Dr. Amos Adamu, has called on Nigeria Football Federation, NFF to invest in the excellent performance of the SuperEagles Chief Coach, Stephen Keshi, who has showed his great coaching potential to the world.
Adamu noted that the football federation should not listen to calls, at any point in time, for it to employ a foreign technical adviser ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
He said in a press statement signed by his Media Assistant, Dapo Sotuminu, that the NFF should ensure Keshi gets the requisite exposure and knowledge of a world class coach by sending him to international coaching seminars, workshops and trainings which other great football coaches across the globe would attend while preparing for the Brazil 2014 World Cup.
“We should be proud of Keshi and I am sure the NFF has great respect for him for helping to bring back the glory days of Nigerian football. Today, the Eagles can face any team in the world without fear of being mauled by goals. The last Eagles’ friendly game against Italy tells it all, when the national team was forced to a 2-2 draw by the four times world champion.”
He added: “Keshi should be celebrated as the first Nigerian coach to win the Nations Cup, play FIFA Confederation Cup and he’s graciously the first to qualify the Eagles and coach the team at the World Cup.
“Already, he is a reference point in African football having helped Togo to play in their first ever FIFA World Cup in 2006. He is also the only living African to win the Nations Cup as a player and a coach.
“Keshi is our own and he should be celebrated,” Adamu said.
The former CAF and FIFA Executive Committee member also congratulated the NFF president, Alhaji Aminu Maigari and the Super Eagles team for picking the ticket to the 2014 World Cup.
The former WAFU president did not leave out the Sports Minister and Chairman, National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, who he described as a visionary leader whose contributions have changed the face of Nigerian football and sports as a whole.