The minister of youth and sports development, Sunday Dare, has charged the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to do everything possible to ensure that Nigeria qualifies for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
He gave the charge at the extraordinary congress of the NFF held in Benin on Sunday.
The minister who was represented by his media aide, Kola Daniel, urged the football body to approach the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign kicking off next month with all the seriousness it deserves to avoid falling into any avoid permutations at the dying minute.
“I wish to use this medium to urge the football family most especially the Nigerian Football Federation about the World Cup qualification which is at the doorstep. We are starting our first World Cup qualifying match early next month and it is expected that we take the matches seriously and prepare very well so that we can as well qualify for the World Cup in Qatar 2022.
“We have two matches to play in the month of September against Liberia and Cape Verde. I want to state here that we should avoid permutations at the dying minute. We should get ready to pick maximum points when needed at the early stage of the qualifiers so that we will not find ourselves in a tight corner.
“Consequently, I want to also use this medium to wish you a fruitful deliberation in your Congress and come out with plans that can as well bring about the growth of football in the country.
The grassroots football should be one of your major focuses so we can as well present a formidable team that would bring about podium performance in the U17 and U20.
The NFF remains the lead organisation in football development and it must retool for the work ahead. I am sure this NFF leadership can do it if they want to do it,” he said.
SOURCE; https://leadership.ng/minister-tasks-nff-on-qatar-2022-world-cup-qualification/