As reactions continue to trail the proposed Presidential Task Force (PTF) as being speculated in some quarters, one of the known voices in Nigeria’s sports, Alhaji Aminu Balele Kurfi, has warned that Super Eagles’ hope of towering beyond their previous performances in World Cup history would be dealt a blow should the move be allowed to take place.
Only last week, some stakeholders took turns to condemn the formation of any committee for Super Eagles ahead of the soccer showpiece slated for Brazil, arguing that there was no reason for another PTF like the one constituted before 2010 World Cup Finals.
However, Alhaji Kurfi whose view has been supported by many soccer followers further alleged that formation of PTF for the World Cup which is less than two months away was being championed by some unscrupulous individuals who are out to waste the country’s resources.
He, therefore, called on President Goodluck Jonathan not to approve such proposal from any group or individuals, wondering what purpose would the task force serve after the Eagles have booked their place in Brazil.
He said: “The problem we are in Nigeria is that some individuals have refused to do things that will help us grow. How can you be talking of a task force when the team have already qualified? Tell me what will be the job of those who will constitute membership of the committee?
When a presidential task force was set up for 2010 World Cup Finals, they had two mandates. One was to ensure the qualification of Super Eagles. The other was to raise funds for the team’s participation in the competition.
“Since our Super Eagles have qualified and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is currently making serious effort to raise enough funds through its marketing department, what will be the job of the PTF?” he queried.
The Kaduna state-born stakeholder warned: “Let’s not allow what happened to Malaysia MH 370 to happen to this country… a flight to nowhere. If PTF is allowed to exist side by side with NFF, there will be confusion in the Super Eagles and before we know it, they will lose focus and before anything could be corrected, the country would have returned to where we are coming from.
“World Cup is a serious business and not a platform to compensate political jobbers who may want to use the opportunity to make more money for themselves via estacodes and free tickets to attend to their personal businesses in Brazil and so on.
On whether the proposed PTF will guarantee availability of enough funds to enable the Super Eagles prosecute their campaign in Brazil, Alhaji Kurfi maintained: “At the moment, there is peace in the Nigerian football family and we should not toy with it. There was no PTF when NFF ensured that our Super Eagles won Nations Cup and even when our Golden Eaglets won the World Cup. So many companies, both telecommunications and multi-national companies are indicating interest in sponsoring our football programmes and build stadia.
“Already, Orleans Investment has entered into agreement with the NFF to bring in football experts from Europe to assist in developing our local-based players as well as take some of our coaches for special courses. What will any individual want to do again that is more than what is already on ground?”
