Football Federation, is young and ambitious
like many people his age and wants to leave
a good legacy after his four-year term of
office.
At 44, he’s already been head of the Delta
State Sports Council, a region known for its
wealth of athletics talent which has
consistently topped the medals table during
the National Sports Festival.
His decision to regularly send athletes
abroad on expensive training paid off with
laurels. It accounts for the reason he has
insisted on sending referees from the
domestic league and backroom staff to
England for knowledge acquisition.
Under his watch, Warri Wolves grew from a
small town club to continental challengers
and could win their first Nigeria Professional
Football League title in less than five years.
However, he has also been embroiled in
controversy, as the transfer saga of former
Super Eagles midfielder Sunday Mba brought
him under scrutiny two years ago.
While Pinnick has denied claims that he
blocked Mba’s move to CA Bastia because of
the financial gains he stood to make, he has
never shied away from telling media that
he’s a comfortable man who can afford to
spend the summer in America with his
family.
With funds from the oil-rich Delta state
propelling him into the office of president of
the NFF in September 2014 as well as its
attendant crises, Pinnick has slowly tried to
gain acceptance among the media and the
public.
He has also sought to win back corporate
Nigeria, the powerful consumer brands and
communications giants that finance the
national football teams.
After years of graft and lack of proper
accountability, Pinnick has said one of his
main tasks is to clean the Augean stables
and ensure that the federation once again
earns the support of its esteemed sponsors in
order to depend less on funding from the
federal government.
Pinnick | The 'Rebuilder'
“We're trying to rebuild the future of Nigerian
football. We inherited the good, bad and ugly
at the NFF,” Pinnick said during Social Media
Week in February.
A recent issue with the return of government
funds for prosecution of the 2014 World Cup
in Brazil led to the resignation of long-
standing general secretary Musa Amadu, one
of the most knowledgeable sports
administrators in the Glass House.
While Pinnick insisted that things must be
done rightly, the lack of information with
regards to the resignation of Amadu has
meant that conspiracy theorists have been
able to alienate him further.
An avowed supporter of Arsenal and an
admirer of Arsene Wenger, Pinnick interjected
Yaya Toure’s speech by saying “wrong club”
and a shake of the head at a press
conference after the Manchester City
midfielder won his fourth African Player of
the Year title in Lagos in January.
Columnist Calvin Emeka Onwuka also
criticized his decision of chasing Arsenal
reserves like Chuba Akpom and Alex Iwobi
instead of looking to call up Newcastle
United first team player Sammy Ameobi
during his trip to search out eligible English-
born Nigerians.
Pinnick also said that Wenger would be part
of a consortium of coaches that would train
Nigerian backroom staff during a
controversial capacity development visit to
England.
While the Super Eagles reached the second
round of the World Cup last year, it has been
downhill afterwards with their failure to
qualify for this year’s Africa Cup of Nations.
At no other time has it seemed that the future
of the senior national team could be more
tenuous than now as they have gone without
a substantive coach since July 2014 - 10
months that have seen the ranking of the
Super Eagles plummet while smaller nations
like Cape Verde have risen above the three-
time African champions.
Has Pinnick got his priorities right?
While the youth teams have excelled so far,
with all qualifying for the various Fifa
tournaments having had a structure in place
before the handover of baton to Pinnick’s
board, it is evident that his administration
would be judged by its handling of the Super
Eagles.
Most importantly, he needs to hire a coach.
Stephen Keshi has not been the best
employee but his track record says that he
has something going for him even though
many people think he does not deserve a
second stint in charge.
However, it is obvious from a 2014 interview
with the Vanguard that Pinnick is not a big
fan of his fellow Deltan’s tactics and his
board asked him to leave during his pay-as-
you-coach stint during the failed Afcon
qualifiers but the trainer was foisted on the
team by the Sports ministry.
What Pinnick does with Keshi’s contract will
determine how serious he is about forging
his own destiny and leaving a good legacy.
A second issue that he is saddled with is that
of the contract for a sportswear partner for
the national teams. Having lost the backing
of German giants Adidas over non-
compliance with agreed terms, the NFF is in
search of a new partner that would take care
of its apparel and other needs.
This should also bring in extra funds to the
federation that could be used to pay the
coach who is eventually hired.
How successful his philosophy to look for
foreign-born Nigerians and the foreign
training of staff will be part of the yardsticks
employed to measure his success.
Yet, none seems more urgent than hiring a
new coach who would have enough time to
raise a good team that could successfully
qualify for the next Afcon in a group that
includes seven-time champions Egypt and
supposed minnows Chad and Tanzania.
Like it or not, it is already in the records that
Nigeria failed to qualify for Equatorial Guinea
under his watch.
As recent events in Nigeria’s political space
have shown, four years is not such a long
time. How Pinnick handles the upcoming
qualifiers and the coaching job may well
determine his lasting legacy.
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