by On Thursday the 16th of November 2023 ,at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium , I joined sports loving Nigerians to watch and cheer the Super Eagles of Nigeria play against the Likuena” (Crocodiles) of Lesotho.
A clean sheet and goals was not too much to expect from our National team given our FIFA ranking and pedigree in football,matched against the Lesotho team especially.
I must say, that our expectations were high, albeit the performance of the Super Eagles against Lesotho fell short.
The Government and football loving people of Nigeria take the qualification for the 2026 World Cup very seriously and want the Super Eagles to qualify.Having missed out on the 2022 world cup in Qatar ,qualifying for the 2026 World Cup is not negotiable.
I urge the Nigeria Football Federation to look into and correct all the lapses observed in Thursdays match with the aim of putting in a much better performance in Rwanda on Sunday,the 19th of November 2023 against Zimbabwe.
Furthermore, we understand that the qualifiers are a FIFA organized competition, and so the television broadcasting rights are in the World football governing body’s purview.Granted, the Ministry is taking appropriate steps in response to this situation.
It is not good enough that Nigerians could not watch their National team play in their country. A repeat of same should be avoided and NFF will be expected to register Nigeria’s displeasure with the appropriate authority in FIFA.
We apologize to Nigerians ,most of whom anticipated to watch the game on television.
Moving on, I charge the Super Eagles of Nigeria to be more incisive for the rest of the qualifying series.
Nigerians are all rooting for your success.
Signed:
Senator John Owan Enoh
Honourable Minister of Sports Development.
17-11-2023
