The Senate on Tuesday urged the coach of the Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi to rescind his resignation as coach of the team.
They also called on the managers of sports in Nigeria to sit up and return to the grassroots to source and develop the nation’s abundant sports talents to sustain this new dawn in the nation’s football and sports in general.
The plea by the Senate was sequel to a motion sponsored by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and co sponsored by all the senators.
The Senate also gave a standing ovation in honour of the “new kings of African football” just as they Passed a vote of confidence on Coach Stephen Keshi, his technical crew and Nigerian coaches.
However a mild drama ensued as some senators, mainly from the opposition, raised an objection to adopt a resolution commend and congratulate President Goodluck Jonathan for this achievement and for motivating the team.
For the senators, as explained by Senator Babafemi Ojodu, they advanced that the Jonathan led administration was responsible for the team its technical crew being starved of funds and left stranded in South Africa.
But the Senate president, David Mark intervened saying that for the president to have spoken to the players on two occasion it counted for much. He also appealed to his colleagues not to be partisan in the matter. The resolution was however adopted.
They further urged Mr. President and the Federal Government of Nigeria to reward the team handsomely both materially and by naming streets after them in their respective states and also conferring befitting National Honours Awards on them.
In his lead debate however, Ekweremadu said until the competition, the performance of the Super Eagles had been grossly dissatisfactory to the generality of Nigerians, while Nigerian football has nosedived abysmally.
He noted the tenacity of spirit, patriotic zeal as well as unity and team spirit displayed by players, coach, and the entire team management.
He observed further the contribution of the home based Super Eagles to the overall success of the team.
He was also mindful of the unifying power of football in Nigeria and the role of football in profiling the nation’s international image.
He warned against the degeneration of grassroots football, poor standard of our local leagues, and the many challenges facing the nation’s football and sports development in general.
The Senate President David Mark, in his remark, confirmed the resignation of keshi as coach of the Super Eagles.
Mark who said he spoke with Keshi on Tuesday morning, said the coach confided in him that he had to file in his resignation because of the over bearing interference of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to recruit a foreign coach with him.
Mark said “I spoke to keshi and he confirmed that he has resigned because there was too much interference. He said they wanted to impose a foreign technical crew on him to work with.”
He said Keshi maintained that the current technical crew was good to continue the job.
He however said the coach would be open to reconsider provided we don’t force foreign partners on him.
“We have to give him freehand to run the team to accomplish the task and we have to urge the president to prevail on him not to resign.
Mark further emphasised that “grass root training is where the problem is adding that without grass root development, sports in the country cannot thrive as it should.”
He also bemoaned the dearth of football facilities in the country, expressing the need for such facilities to be provided at the local levels to train the youths.
Concerned by the poor funding of sports in the country, Mark said “as long as government continues to fund sports we will never get it right.” He added that the release of funds from government were not “easy and straight forward” to access and that there is also the challenge of “lack of accountability in managing it”.
Speaking against the background of an initial disbelief in the team, Mark noted that “Nigerians ought to have faith in ourselves.”
He said “This win should spurs us up to win in Brazil in the confederations cup.” Also at the world cup, we have the talents if well harnessed to win the world cup.
Mark who led the Nigerian delegation to the tournament was concerned that most of the people at the VIP cubicle were he sat supported Burkina faso and were not favourably disposed to Nigeria winning.
He revealed that Nigeria does not have many friends in Africa as such “we must show our greatness in deeds, we have to prove it, in the results that we produce.”
Sen. Ganiyu Solomon asked organised sector to continue to support sports, government can’t do it alone. He cited the development of sports in other europe countries.
Sen. Abdul Ningi, hailed the Eagles for their unique discipline, passion and dedication. He specifically praised Chelsea Striker, Victor Moses who left the country because his family was killed in terrible circumstances, yet he returned to play for the country. He hailed his extraordinary patriotism and commended multitude of Nigerians who defiled rain and came from all corners of the world to see Nigeria play.
He further said “I want the political leadership of the country to know that issues of religion, ethnicity and cultural affiliation is secondary to Nigeria. Because the kind of support that this team received from Nigeria which is elitist in nature did not surface.”
Sen Ndoma Egba noted that the victory should “ginger us to translate the Nigerian spirit into other spheres of the polity”. He also extolled the spirit of Victor Moses describing him as an example of forgiveness.
Sen. Olusola Adeyeye said while the country bask in the euphoria of the victory “we must remind ourselves of salient lessons we have learnt like the pursuit for excellence”. He added that the country cannot insist on enforcement of federal character if we must build an excellent team. He warned that Nigeria should not just rely on being called giant of Africa but to focus on developing excellence. He said the success of Nigeria has always been hinged on a leadership that believes in sports. “We have neglected many sport facilities in Nigeria under pre-supposedly civilian government, hence we must out perform the military when it comes to sports and maintaining sports facilities. He added that government should build schools that have sports facilities and encourage Nigerian youths to be actively involved in sports. “We must go back to strengthening sports in secondary schools.”
Sen. Adamu Ibrahim Gumba however complained of poor funding of sports in the country. He said the perception of some Nigerians that spending money on sports is a waste is wrong. He further encouraged Nigerians private sectors to fund sports. He also pointed out the need to support the coach and technical crew to do better in the world cup and other tournaments.
Sen. Dahiru Awaisu Kuta said he was concerned that stephen Keshi has resigned, and that if that is true they should urge Mr President to step into the matter and ensure it is not true. He said he saw determination, patriotism and winning spirit. He called on the federal government to encourage inter school competition as a way of encouraging grass root sports as well as local players.
Sen. Ayogu Eze said we need to have faith in ourselves. He also praised the coach, Stephen Keshi for his huge achievement of winning the trophy as player and taking Nigeria to glory as a coach. He lamented that in the early stages there was no funding for the team.
Sen. George Akume said the outcome of the victory has brought about the prominence of Nigeria across the world and a celebration of talent in Nigeria. He also said he has been forced to rethink his position on employing a foreign coach, considering the performance of the coach.
Sen. Nkechi Nwaogu praised the team for their comportment and the way they disciplined themselves. She said the God of soccer and unity is with Nigeria. She however said all stakeholders should not relax. She called for the return to grass root development of sports.
Sen. Ehigie Uzamere, said he had to consult the oracle so that the Eagles would not meet the Ghanians.
Sen. James Manager hailed the boys for playing as a team. He said only talented players should be allowed to play for the team regardless of where they come from in Nigeria. He said in the event Keshi resigns, all hands must be on deck so that what happened to Zambia the immediate past champions, who were knocked out in the first round of this tournament would not happen to us.”