New President of the West African Football Union (WAFU) Zone B, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau, has promised to bring positive change to the regional body.
Gusau was installed on Monday as the head of the organisation following the resignation of Ghana’s Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku, who took up a new position at the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) emphasised on the need to develop the game through the grassroots by focusing on youth competitions, articulating an aggressive marketing strategy to get corporates to support the game, and espousing on the need for commitment to the ideals of unity and brotherhood.
“Our country, Nigeria, must make use of this opportunity that has come at this time. I believe that the last Nigerian to hold this position was Dr Amos Adamu, many years ago. It is important to make a positive impact with this fresh opportunity for the sake of our football and our country,” Gusau said, via the NFF media department.
“The focus will be on more competitions, especially at youth level, to align with CAF’s objectives. One of CAF’s main goals is to increase the number of competitions in our regions while encouraging grassroots participation.”
Before Gusau, there were four Nigerian presidents of WAFU, including the founding president, Mr. J. K. Tandoh. There have also been Chief Jonathan Ogufere, Colonel Abdulmumini Aminu (rtd) and Dr Amos Adamu, who was in office between 2008 and 2010.
“There is absolutely no doubt that despite the size of WAFU B (the second smallest of CAF’s zones in terms of number of countries; seven), football resides here. An instance is the just-concluded U20 AFCON, where four of the eight quarter-finalists were from West Africa: Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone,” Gusau added.
“We will need to find the money for more competitions, and that is why we must develop a comprehensive marketing strategy to raise funds from corporates. By investing in young players, we will be strengthening the conveyor belt that will continue to produce talents for the West African, nay African game.”
Nigeria, alongside Ghana, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire (all in the WAFU B zone), has been the most successful country in African youth football for decades.
Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets have won the FIFA U-17 World Cup five times, while Ghana’s Black Starlets have been champions three times.
Ghana’s U-20 boys, the Black Satellites, won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 1999, and Nigeria have been runners-up in the same championship in 1989 and 2005, while winning the bronze medal in 1985.
Even at the senior level, WAFU B teams are very strong. Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire contested the final of the last Africa Cup of Nations. Nigeria have been AFCON champions three times and Ghana four times.
Nigeria were also the first African country to win the Olympic gold medal in football while Ghana were the first to win any football medal of any shape (bronze, in 1992).
“We must find a way to maintain and even raise the level of our performances in major competitions, in order to sustain our pride of place in the international game,” Gusau noted.
