Posted by BBC Sports on
Former international Segun Odegbami has been named as the interim secretary-general of the Nigerian Football Association (NFA).
Former international Segun Odegbami has been named as the interim secretary-general of the Nigerian Football Association (NFA).
Odegbami replaces Taiwo Ogunjobi in the latest sweeping change made by Nigerian sports minister Musa Mohamed.
Odegbami, who was in charge of Nigeria's failed 2010 World Cup bid committee, told BBC Sport that he was surprised but delighted with his appointment albeit in an interim capacity.
''I will contribute my best as I always try to do when it comes to national assignments. I am aware of what is expected of me and that there is a need for fresh ideas," commented Odegbami.
Asked about his expectations Odegbami confessed he will only know after he has been briefed on his role.
"I truly do not know but we are all aware of the plateau that Nigerian football has now reached,'' he added.
The entire membership of the NFA board has also been scaled down with the withdrawal of four government nominees.
The four government officials withdrawn are Chive Kaave, Ayo Omidiran, Onje Gye-wado and Emmanuel Ibru.
This move appears to be in direct response to a Fifa reprieve given on Monday in which the game's governing body withdrew its threat to suspend Nigeria from international competition if changes were not made by 31 December.
Fifa was unhappy with Decree 101, which is the present statute governing the NFA.
The law gives Nigeria's sports ministry the power to appoint the NFA's secretary-general and several other board members which is in contravention of Fifa regulations.
However valuable time was bought by the NFA when Jerome Champagne, Fifa's deputy general secretary, confirmed the country will not be sanctioned even if the offending law is not scrapped by the end of 2004.
At Thursday's press conference, the sports minister Musa Mohamed accused the outgoing NFA management of fraud and of failing to follow proper financial procedures.
The special assistant to the sports minister Salisu Abubakar told the BBC: ''we hope these changes will meet the expectations of both the Nigerians who wanted a change and Fifa.
''The new law that will govern Nigerian football will come before the federal executive council here as soon as possible. It will then be ratified before the national assembly pass it into law,'' Abubakar added.
The new management team is expected to resume office by 3 January and will be disbanded when the mandate of the present NFA board ends in November 2005.