Lite-n-Cee:

Attention all Football addicts !!!

For once in our miserable live time as a country, a president is able to say the bitter truth; LOC should source the funding from the private sector, and if they can't ? , no show

$300m from FG allocation i'm sure can do any of these :

build factories and create lasting jobs, not spurious overinflated contracts for a one time event.

build an international standard hospital, well equipped so that the president doesn't have to escape to Europe to save his life when he has a headache

Electrify the remaining rural areas of at least one geopolitical zone, think about that

build new roads and repair damaged one within at least one geopolitical zone, so that agricultural products could flow freely from the rural areas to urban, and the urban areas will actually look urban and not concrete jungles.

i can go on and on and list more and more

Nigerian kids need education not funfair, the disillusioned graduates roaming the streets need jobs, not sporting jamboree, industries are the things that develop a country not staduims, please!!!

Some people talked about Nigerias image, chei !! addiction of any kind is dangerous, which image eeeehhh!!!!, oh i forgot, a football drunk image can actually suppress, suffocate, and tactically erase the bad roads+darkness+water scarcity+fuel scarcity+drug scarcity+human rights abuse+food scarcity+inflation+witchcraft+terrorism+ , + hell , + etc image.

if you guys need this tourney so much than your necessary food, please zukkymike+RSA+galactico+princekevo+n-guage+elosela can conviniently donate $50m each to LOC and stop blasting our ears with bullshit !!! if you guys move fast we can still recover the hosting rights.

The withdrawal has generated a lot of reactions and the one coming from the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the championship is the most interesting. It reduced the budget to N17 billion (about $160m) from the initial N37 billion.

General-manager of the LOC, Emeka Inyama said that FIFA have told them that there was no need for broadcast allocation in their budget. He also denied that they ever requested for N37 billion (about $312m) as speculated in the media saying they only asked for N35 billion.

He said: "What the LOC presented was N35 billion, not N37 billion. The budget presented a breakdown of components for what is needed to organise a smooth and successful competition.

Livvvvy:

We shouldnt have accepted it in the first place if we know that we are incapable of funding it, or did we just discover the lack of infrastructure today.
Or may I ask, was Nigeria forced to accept it?

I don't believe in accepting what i can't start and starting what i can't finish,  so the excuses that Mr president is giving is flemsy and not sound enough.

We are only disgracing ourselves internationally and making a big fool of ourselves and then give others the reasons to call us names.

Na wa for people sef.

OutlukBabe:

I don't know much about Football stuffs, but I can remember when FIFA threaten to suspend Nigeria from international football because government is meddling with NFA. According to FIFA, NFA should be independent from government influence. According to FIFA government should not decide who leads the NFA and what happened with their finances. That also means government should not give the football loving fanatics any more money. If that is the case, if the NFA cannot source money from private sectors to organize their FIFA football, why go back to the government to beg for money. This is double standard. NFA should not be given money by our government. If they can't get money from private sector, then they should go back to FIFA that indemnified from any government influence.

zoraro:

I don't know when the hosting right was given to Nigeria but if it was during Obasanjo's tenure that means it's almost a year and half ago so why the sudden realization of it financial implications.

The Action Congress on Tuesday, urged President Umaru Yar’Adua to reconsider his administration’s decision to back out of the planned hosting of the 2009 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, saying the decision was capable of portraying Nigeria as a country that cannot be trusted to deliver on its commitments.

The AC said “Since government is a continuum, the commitment made to the International Football Federation (FIFA) by the immediate past administration to host the tournament remains binding on the Yar’Adua administration.”

The Spokesman of the party, Alhaji Lai Muhammed said in a statement made available to our correspondent in Lagos that while FIFA could not force the country to host the tournament, it could at least deprive Nigeria of a chance to host any of its bigger competitions, including the main World Cup, in future.

[b]AC said “the argument that hosting the competition was not a priority of the administration exposed a clear lack of understanding of what it entails to host international sports competitions.

“For example, hosting any major international competitions could be a catalyst for the development of infrastructure - such as roads, housing, hospitals, transportation and telecommunications - in the host country, especially if the government is development-inclined.

“Apart from the massive upgrading of sports facilities, Nigeria’s hosting of the 1999 World Youth Championship in several cities and the 2003 All Africa Games in Abuja helped to modernise many other facilities and trigger the construction of others.

“In Abuja alone, hundreds of housing units built purposely for the All Africa Games were later sold to Nigerians. In 1973 when Lagos hosted the All Africa Games, a similar games village was built, which later provided opportunities for hundreds of Nigerians to have a roof over their heads.[/b]

AC said the reaction of the President of CAF, Issa Hayatou, that the decision was an embarrassment not only to the federation but to the whole of Africa, was very serious and should form part of the reasons why the government should reconsider its stand.

The party said “What we had expected is for the Yar’Adua administration to reach out to the private sector to help offset the cost of hosting the tournament, instead of just withdrawing from hosting it.”
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200810292312629

vicero:

Guys , lets not blame the FG. They can't just pump money into something that would not bring out real benefits. the national finances should not just be spent anyhow. If we host the competition and after that we start suffering what would you guys say. Besides, its not compulsory for us to host. The LOC members should all be arrested. The presented 35.5 Billlion Naira originally, when dust was raised they reduced to 9Billion, and now FIFA is saying we may not even spend up to that 9 Billion. They were just trying to dry out the nation. Nigeria has now turn to Santa Claus, that gives out money anyhow abi? Men they should all be KILLED as a matter of fact.