NFF elections: Nigeria has high deficit of coaches – Emeruwa

A frontline candidate for the post of NFF president, Dr Christian Emeruwa, has identified lack of high grade coaches in Nigeria saying it is time the NFF has a lot of job to do in that direction.

Emeruwa who stated this during the NFF presidential debate organised by FCT chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) recently in Abuja said no Nigerian coaches have been certified in Grade A, B and C by the Confederation of African Football CAF in the last five years. The CAF head of Safety and Security said if elected as NFF president he will facilitate more coaching courses for Nigerian coaches.

“Let me start by saying that Nigeria has a high deficit of coaches. In the last five years, no coach in Nigeria has been certified trained by CAF. We have a lot of work to do if we are train by our coaches. No country can survive when for five years you have nobody that is certified even at Grade C, Grade B or Grade A. Morocco this year did a coaching course sponsored by the FA and supported by CAF.

“For their own local coaches, NFF just like any other member associations is supposed to have her own coaching program. But the fact is that NFF as the custodian and developer of football must take into cognisance in terms of its developmental problems.

“My job (as NFF president) will be to facilitate more coaching programs and also to develop module for entry level coaching in Nigeria because we cannot also rely on CAF to always come here to do the coaching. You can partner and develop your own module,” Emeruwa stated.