Talking to Shehu Dikko about football is like drinking fine, French wine. He is smooth and convincing, and comes across as one who should always be involved in football administration. Shehu is way ahead of his peers with dynamic ideas and blue prints on how Nigerian football can achieve utopian heights. In this interview with BASSEY EKPO BASSEY, Shehu unveils the panacea for Nigeria’s return to football dominance and explains why he has a life-long affair with the sport.
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With your wealth of experience in sports, would you want to be minister of sports?
If they appoint me minister of sports, I will not take it. Even though I have some interest in other sports, my major interest is in football. The reason we are mixing it up in this Country is that we have not decided on our priorities, like other serious- minded countries. That is why nothing works. 99 per cent of Nigerians love football, that is our national sport, yet it is not working. We should not negate other sports, but if football works, other sports will follow. Take Argentina for example; they do other sports but football is the no.1 sport. Same applies to Brazil. If, for example, a Brazilian club wants to spend ?40m on a player (Corinthians want to buy Tevez from Manchester City) that means something is working there.
What is the blue print for football development in Nigeria?
We have to go back to the basics and recreate the football structures in this country. Other countries are doing it, why can’t we? We have to sort out the legal frame work for football primarily, and sports in general. The frame work is weak, almost non-existent. Everything is done at the instance of the administrators in charge. That should not be so, because the administrators should meet the framework when they come into office, and not decide on policies as they suit them. We need to have a pyramid structure from local, state , up to the national level. We need to have football associations from the local level running competitions and leagues for male and female teams, so that the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) can concentrate primarily on the national teams. We need to start having credible administrators, good facilities and well structured clubs. It is better to have ten well structured clubs than 20 paper clubs. With good public-private-partnership, the sky will be the limit for sports in this country.
You have been involved in football politics. Are you still politically active?
Well, I have mostly been consulting, I am a FIFA consultant and I have been a member of various committees in the Federation. At a point, I was consulting for the FIFA Goal Project, football federations, the ministry of sports and the House of Representatives committee on Sports all at the same time. I have churned out several blue prints on football and sports development, but the problem is implementation. In 2006, I was nominated for the position of the secretary-general of the football association on a temporary capacity. I was supposed to go in there to put things in order, but it did not work out. I also contested for the presidency in 2010, but it did not work out.
Do you think that the process of selecting sports administrators is flawed?
That was why I was talking about the legal frame work. It must to be fixed. Recently, FIFA conducted an election. Did you hear them say anything about electoral guidelines? No, because that has been sorted out. When you tamper with electoral guidelines anytime there is an election, it favours the person in power. The legal framework is the first thing that should be sorted out, otherwise we will not move forward. Conducting wholesale elections is also part of the problem. There should never be a vacuum. In Europe they conduct elections in bits. The election for the presidency is not in the same year with other administrators. That way, there is less tension, little politicking and full concentration on the sport. Also, we should stop having elections in the World Cup year, it is too distracting.
What is the panacea for the problem between the NFF and the renegade NFA?
Same legal issues. Sort them out and everything is sorted out. In any case, what gave them the right to come out of the blues to say they want to take charge? People always capitalise on loopholes. We need to sort these problems out, instead of creating confusion. It is uncalled for and unnecessary. We need to sort out these illegalities firmly and conclusively to avoid these problems in the future.
Why football?
Football is my life. I bought a ball with the first money I was given as a child. There was a football pitch in my compound when I was growing up and I have always remembered playing the game. I am involved in other sports but football is universal, that is why I am so passionate about the game, yet, I am sad because if we had followed the blue print, now, we would be amongst the best in the World. That is why I volunteered to contest the presidency. I love the game. The only reason I watch television is because of football, I do not watch movies or any other programme for that matter. I have been buying newspapers for thirty years now, all because I want to keep abreast of football news.
Did you play the game professionally?
No, I did not. I had an opportunity to do that, but I had to make a choice between professional football and what I do now. I chose the latter. I have organised matches between the national teams and clubs I have managed, so, I can play. I am involved with clubs in Belgium and the Netherlands. I have also arranged training facilities in Europe for various teams. Though I never played professionally, I am more of a professional than a lot of them out there.
Will our national teams qualify for the CAF Nations cup and Olympics?
They have no reason not to. The quality is there, they are in tight corners, no doubt, but they have their fates in their hands. The initial setbacks should not dampen their spirits. Still, we have to go back to the basics if we want to go back to what we once were. In other countries, the junior national teams are modeled after the senior team, so that players can graduate and seamlessly move into the senior team when there is a vacancy. That is not happening here; we want to win age-grade competitions by force, at times to the detriment of our football development. For instance, Ahmed Musa should be left out of the junior team, because he has proven himself in the senior team. Chances should be given to other up and coming young players.
What next for Shehu Dikko?
I am part of the football family. In sports there is no room for opposition. The fact that I contested against Aminu Maigari does not mean I cannot help him if the need arises. If you recall, I was the only candidate with a detailed blue print on how our football should be made to work. I shared the document out and I am happy the NFF has called me to say they are implementing some of the ideas I suggested. Also, I am looking at various ways of solving the NFF\NFA imbroglio and the problem with the NPL. I am always actively involved, regardless of which side of the divide I find myself.
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