NATIONAL silence has
enveloped the discovery
that three players in the
national U-17 team
representing the
country at the CAF U-17 competition in Morocco
were disqualified. They
failed the age detecting
test CAF conducted at
the competition venue. There is no shortage of
excuses for the disgrace
that the Nigeria Football
Association, NFA, has
again brought to the
country on this matter. It is no longer a secret
that the NFA does not
pay adequate attention
to forestall the decision
of age cheats, who some
officials aid to get into teams, in anticipation of
the rewards that await
them after a good
performance at the
competition. Others see the U-17
competition as a good
stepping stone in
professional careers that
are built on nothing than
deceit. Why should someone who could be
in the twilight of his 20s
claim to be under 17, all
in a bid to play
professional football? Many things have been
said about the poor
standards Nigeria brings
to international
competitions and the
unfulfilled expectations of our young players
being among the next
generation of footballers
who would hold the
global sphere with their
skills. The pretence that the
age cheating problem
does not exist because
FIFA has elected not to
be involved in our mess
is not enough defence. When Nigerian officials
field over-aged players
for youth competitions,
they compromise the
future of Nigerian
football, they create the false impression of a
bright future and they
get awards for cheating. In 2009 when Nigeria
hosted the FIFA U-17
competition, Chief
Adokiye Amiesimaka, a
notable contributor to
the Green Eagles 1980 Nations Cup victory,
former Rivers State
Attorney General and
Commissioner for
Justice, proved in his
weekly column that Fortune Chukwudi,
captain of Nigeria’s FIFA
U-17 World Cup team
was over aged. He was
vilified to no end! How
many members of that team progressed to the
senior national team? It would not be
acceptable under the
euphoria of celebrating
the current U-17 team’s
victories in the
competition to ignore the disgrace from
Morocco. It is a
confirmation that the
NFA has not made a firm
decision to wipe out age
cheating. After hosting the 2009 competition, it
had the machines used
for the test. Why did it not test its
players before fielding
them for the
competition? The
National Sports
Commission, to which the NFA reports, should
sanction the culprits.
Age cheating has
persisted for so long
because Nigeria neither
punishes the cheating players nor the officials
who aid them. The world used to be
concerned, and then
laughed at us. Now, its
attitude is to ignore us.
We cannot ignore those
who steadily lead Nigeria to perfide.
www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/age-cheats-cheat-us/