NFF fine-tuning corporate governance, approves conflict of interest policy
By Nnamdi Okosieme
The Nigeria Football Federation is taking steps to ensure sound corporate governance in its administration of football in Nigeria.
As part of these measures, the Executive Committee of the federation met on Friday, 13th August 2021 to deliberate on important issues in Nigeria Football.
As part of the meeting, the federation’s General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, made a presentation to the Executive Committee, which after careful consideration of the documents, approved a Conflict of Interest (CoI) policy, which seeks to protect the interest of the NFF when it is contemplating entering into a transaction or arrangement that might benefit the private interest of a team member or might result in a possible excess benefit transaction.
This policy as designed and applies to all current and prospective employees and Executive Committee members of NFF as well as contractors, vendors, business partners and persons acting on behalf of the federation.
Another key outcome of the meeting was the committee’s endorsement of the Accounting and Procedural Manual of the Nigeria Football Federation. This manual will serve as a financial control instrument for all transactions of FIFA and further entrenches transparency and accountability in all financial dealings of the NFF. The decision to endorse the instrument was reached after consideration of a presentation by the Chairman of the Finance Sub-Committee.
Also at the meeting, the committee in response to a letter from FIFA requesting Member Associations (MAs) to have a Referees Department (as opposed to Referees Unit, which is presently the case in some MAs), and guidelines on the composition of the Referees Sub-Committee, approved that the Referees Unit be upgraded to a Referees Department, to be headed by a Director.
According to the committee, the position of Director will be advertised. In addition, NFF President, Amaju Pinnick Chairman of Referees Sub-Committee, and the General Secretary were mandated by the committee to reconstitute the NFF Referees Committee in line with the guidelines and frameworks provided by FIFA.
As part of the committee’s resolve for the NFF to cope with the demands and requirements of the constantly evolving football industry, it has decided to strengthen the federation’s Integrity Unit.
The meeting, which was attended by Pinnick, second Vice President, Shehu Dikko and other key members of the committee, endorsed the two-year cycle for the FIFA World Cup instead of the current four-year cycle proposed by the world football governing body.
The Committee noted that there are immense sporting, infrastructural and economic benefits to the less developed countries of the world from staging the FIFA World Cup every two years.
