According to a source who chose to remain anonymous while speaking to Sports247, information broke out as regards the diversion of the funds for the training of Referees in conjunction with CAF for the improvement and better placement of referees in line with FIFA standards.
In order to ensure the listed Nigerian Referees for Women World Cup are adequately trained to sustain the aspiration of Nigeria to be at the World Cup, the NFF through its Football Committee instituted measures and committed resources to facilitate sustainable development of Refereeing in the Country.
In order to achieve the best for the Nigerian referees, the NFF noted the most recent of technological trends of innovations and development in the training and development of Referees, which is the Refereeing Cloud Platform (RCP), and as such the NFF have had discussions as well as received presentation by experts within the CAF and agreed that:
1. CAF will deploy the Refereeing Cloud facilities to Nigeria at no cost;
2. Its experts are expected to install and train operational personnel with a high level of Refereeing Video and ICT background;
3. The NFF will be responsible for the logistics (i.e. transportation, accommodation, feeding, and allowances) of the personnel deployed for this purpose and the duration of the exercise.
According to our sources, NFF approved that the part of the released dedicated fund for Refereeing Development to the Referees Committee from the FIFA Palliatives be used for this purpose.
However, there have been cries that the released fund has been diverted to satisfy other means such as personal benefits of paying outstanding monies owed certain individuals.
“However, the Chairman and members of the Refereeing Committee feels otherwise. Their priority is not the development of Refereeing but personal benefits. After securing approval for the money to be used to ensure timely installation so that Referees for the World Cup will be able to benefit and secure a place in the final listing, the committee concluded an arrangement to divert the fund to pay outstanding sitting allowances owed it. This is not only misappropriation of allocation but a case of sabotaging the nation’s aspiration to register its name at the forthcoming Women World Cup as well as the opportunity to link Nigeria with the global highway in the sustainable Refereeing development process,” the source said.
