INCENSED by the continued dwindling fortunes of football in the country, the National Association of Nigerian Footballers (NANF) and Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) are collaborating on the development of the sport in schools across the nation.The two bodies lamented the lip service being paid the development aspect of the game and have resolved to work together to turn the tide by focusing on schools. Speaking during the official launch of the School to Football Field Programme (STOFF) in Lagos yesterday, NANF President, Harrison Jala, said the initiative was borne out of the need to resuscitate the sport.'Our resolve to commence this programme was prompted by the downward trend that football has continued to experience,' he said. 'Having benefited from the school sports system, I feel it became necessary for us to give back to the society.'We want to use the programme to ignite the interest of students and by this we are also helping them to acquire the basic skills, which we feel is lacking. Some of us are former players and through this we will engage ex-internationals in training games masters and also train the students as well.'Jala added: 'We are aware of the enormous task ahead and we are ready to take up the gauntlet to ensure that Nigeria returns to the zenith of the game. As former footballers, God endowed us with this natural gift and it behooves us to impart this skill in our future stars. We want to go back to schools and interact with the parents.'For now, we will begin this pilot project in 12 states and will later extend it to all the states. We have contacts in South America and Europe, where we hope to bring in experts in the game, while we also harness the technical know-how of Nigerians to ensure that the programme is sustained.'For the NSSF boss, Ibrahim Muhammad, it is a welcome idea, just as he reaffirmed the NSSF support for NANF at ensuring that the project became a reality. For the umpteenth time, Muhammad lamented the conscious efforts by football authorities not to focus on development of the game through schools.
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