After 2014, Nigeria will regularly have referees at the W’Cup- Maude

NPL is talking about starting the 2012/2013 season in October. How ready are your referees? Thank you. I can say that going by the result of the physical fitness test we have just had, I can say that we are ready for the new season. We shall soon do the national fitness test for other […]

NPL is talking about starting the 2012/2013 season in October. How ready are your referees?

Thank you. I can say that going by the result of the physical fitness test we have just had, I can say that we are ready for the new season. We shall soon do the national fitness test for other members who did not take part in this exercise. We are planning to have another fitness test in mid October.

Would you say you have enough referees to officiate in the NPL and other divisions of the Nigerian football league?

I can honestly say more than enough referees because as of now, we have well over 60 referees who can officiate in the NPL. It is even my wish that only 60 referees officiate the NPL but we have over 200. If we have fewer referees in the NPL, it means the referees would have more matches on regular basis and that would make them perform better. However, a situation where we have over 200 referees officiating, it is not helping matters.

You have just disclosed that more than 200 referees officiate in the league. Is that what is obtained in European leagues?

Not really. In Europe, they officiate with sixty referees. We have the same number of teams and the same number of matches but we use over 200 referees. By the time we use only sixty we would have more quality referees because they would be active most of the time. It means every month a referee would be deemed to have officiated. We would have 20 centre referees and 40 assistant referees. This is the ideal thing to do.

There is this allegation that the appointment committee has allocated referees to clubs. How true is this allegation?

As the NRA president, I am not aware of such and I don’t think it exists. Most times, if people see one referee officiate a particular club’s matches more than once, most people think something fishy is going on. Once you are good, the sky is your limit. But when you are not doing well, we would stop giving you matches. So Nigerians should stop looking at it as if we are trying to favour some clubs by giving them certain referees. At the same time, I want to say that I am not trying to exonerate my members because you see in a situation where you have over 400 members you cannot confidently vouch for the credibility of all of them. But if we are talking, let us talk about the majority. If in about 380 matches, we have 375 good matches, it means officiating is good. If you have one or two complaints from a team that loses, it’s normal because they must complain.

How would you assess your referees performance in the season that has just ended?

I would have loved someone else to assess my referees but as far as I am concerned they did very well. If you look at it there was no wrangling even at the last hour. Till the end of the season, it was not possible to say who was going to win or who was going on relegation. Even when the NPL did the right thing by expelling Ocean Boys and deducting points, it was still not clear who was going to be relegated. My referees’ good officiating contributed to the success story. There were only few complaints. There were no serious incidents. That is not to say we do not have any room for improvement. We had few lapses and we are going to correct them.

Over the years there have been complaints over poor indeminities to the referees. What is the situation like at the moment?

It is not as bad as it used to be but if the NPL can get sponsorship and increase referees indeminities, we would witness even better officiating. If they will pay better indemiunities, we would give a referee from Maidugari to Port-Harcourt and send a referee from Port-Harcourt over to Sokoto to officiate a match. However, now that they do not have money and are paying N50, 000, N60, 000 and N70, 000, we have to look at the nearby state and give them referees and this is not the best arrangement. But if the league is sponsored and there is money, I am sure my referees would be better paid and the sky would be their limit.

How far have you gone with the proposed referees academy?

We have set up a committee and we are working very hard. We are looking at the modalities. We do not have to jeopardize the academic activities of the kids we are targeting. It is designed for children between 12-14 years. We want it to be a weekend thing. The pilot academy will start very soon here in Abuja. I think by our next meeting, we shall put together all our findings. We are looking for sponsorship because it will require a lot of money.

One of your referees is on the FIFA provisional list for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. What is your association doing to ensure he officiates at the World Cup?

Ok you are talking about Peter Edibi. He has been teamed up with other African referees and is receiving special training ahead of the World Cup. His consultant retired FIFA referee, Mr. Linus Mba is guiding him in the right direction. Very soon we are going to have an international seminar, between 2nd or 3rd October and Edibi will benefit from it. It will enrich other referees but him in particular. He is enjoying all our support. I have asked everybody to pray hard so that we have our own referee at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Why is he (Edibi) paired with referees from other African countries? Does it mean Nigeria lack quality centre referees?

Actually he would have gone with Wokoma Solomon but he was said to be suffering from a heart related problem. But today, he has proved that it was high blood pressure and not any heart problem. His pressure was going high each time he came for the test but today he has done very well and he has no problem. Unfortunately, it is late because FIFA has already referees for the 2014 World Cup. But insha Allah we have younger referee after 2014, Nigeria will regularly have referees at the world Cup. We have designed a programme which is not meant for only 2014. It is one that would put Nigeria on the world map as far as football officiating is concerned.