Okunwa-Igunbor urges NFF committee to secure better team conditions

Former Super Falcons player Gift Okunwa-Igunbor has called on the Nigeria Football Federation’s fact-finding committee to make improved working conditions for the country’s national teams a central part of its work. She said the panel must pursue practical changes instead of stopping at recommendations for the football authorities.

Okunwa-Igunbor’s intervention follows repeated difficulties surrounding Nigeria’s preparations for major international competitions. She believes the committee should help establish measures that address those problems and prevent them from continuing to affect the national teams.

She also wants early planning to become standard practice. In her view, Nigeria should begin preparing for tournaments well before they approach, rather than trying to assemble effective plans close to the start of a competition. She considers advance preparation essential to giving the teams a stronger chance of competing successfully at the highest level.

The former international further argued that places in the national teams should be harder to retain. Selection, she said, should reflect a player’s current form and regular involvement at club level, rather than reputation alone.

That position would affect established players who are not playing consistently for their clubs abroad. Okunwa-Igunbor’s view is that national-team status should not guarantee continued selection when a player is lacking regular competitive football.

The committee is therefore being asked to produce findings that lead to action in three areas: the daily conditions provided to national-team players, the timing of tournament preparations and the competitiveness of selection. Okunwa-Igunbor believes its responsibility should continue beyond submitting a report, with the recommendations translated into changes that can help Nigeria’s teams regain their standing among Africa’s leading football nations.