The problem with Nigerian football - Onigbinde

Onigbinde

Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, former coach of the Super Eagles, in this interview with Saliu Gbadamosi, speaks on a number of issues, including his 70 years of existence, the state of football in Nigeria, among others. Excerpts:

SIR, the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) and former Super Eagles coach, Berti Vogts, parted ways recently. As a former handler of the team, how will you assess the tenure of the German coach?
I don’t know how many Nigerians were happy with the result he gave us but definitely I was not. We all saw it coming because when he was appointed, questions were raised and there was a great deal of apprehension on the part of Nigerians, especially people who have technical eyes for football. I don’t think his tenure was a good one for Nigeria. I think it has become part of history now.

What informed the apprehension?
A lot of people know a few things about Berti Vogts; his antecedents in coaching and in fact, mainly the way the appointment was made, there was too much of secrecy in it and people were not happy about certain conditions which were attached to the contract. Everything seemed to have been in favour of Berti Vogts and nothing in favour of Nigeria. For instance, if we are serious-minded, you are employing a coach, there would have been certain clauses in the contract which would have made the termination of his appointment easier than it was; conditions like what would happen at the end of the African Cup of Nations, we knew that was coming. I don’t think there was any clause in his contract to state if this happened. Then the question of his having to stay abroad to coach Nigeria’s national team. A lot of things were suspicious, so people were apprenhensive, people thought probably there was much more to it than Nigerians were made to know.

But there was a sponsor who paid the bills of the German. It seemed the sponsor was pleased with the terms of the contract of the German...
I am not in the position to say that because I don’t belong to that establishment but basically and generally, that was one of the things wrong with the appointment. If I need help from you, I know what I want, you want to assist me, probably give me money but employing somebody to serve me, I don’t think it makes sense. You employ somebody, you pay him his salary but he is going to serve me.

It doesn’t look tidy. That was part of what we saw when the appointment was to be terminated. I thought the best arrangement would have been for the NFA to say this is what we need to do and if that organisation wanted to give them money and they would go out and employ anybody they wanted who will be loyal to the NFA. But now the situation was different.

The man was being paid, to whom was he going to be loyal? Was it to the man who paid his salary or to the person he was serving? It didn’t look tidy. That was part of the problems. I sincerely appreciate the efforts of that organisation for their support for football and sports in general. I admire them but things should be done the right way.

As a technical man, a member of FIFA and CAF technical committees, what do you think went wrong with the Super Eagles at the last Nations Cup, considering the fact that they went into the competition as Africa’s best, based on FIFA ranking?
What went wrong with them did not start at the African Cup of Nations. If you remember what we have stated now, I think it started with the appointment of the coach. When you employ somebody to handle a team and he had to stay abroad under the flimsy excuse that most of the players were based in Europe, I think it was flimsy. So, I don’t see how you want to put all the blames on the players because the set-up was not proper and if the set-up was not proper, you don’t expect the best of results. Nobody was happy with the outcome of our outing in Ghana but then what do we do? Do we learn our lessons? What went wrong? I think the whole problem started from there, not in Ghana; it started a little longer than in Ghana.

There is the belief in some quarters that the players were not dedicated and were not committed to the cause of the country, do you agree with this?
Well, I agree with you but that may not be entirely the truth because even in one’s private life, when you have a problem, I think the first thing you should want to look into is you identify the problem and then you look into the cause of the problem before you can find a solution. Why was that set-up like that? As a technical man, when a coach handles a team, what he wants to achieve is to make all the 11 players behave and think like one man. But if the circumstances are not conducive for that, how do you achieve it? We had a situation where a player believed that if he shows up two hours to a match, he would still wear the jersey. Then what type of performance do you expect?

The major cause of that was that there was not enough competition for the Eagles’ shirts. You close your eyes, you wake up in the night, you can say so, so and so are going to play. Look at what is happening about some of the boys Siasia selected; some people believe certain players are automatic, irrespective of whether they conform with the coach’s programme or not. This is one of the problems. I believe that is the major problem.

There is no adequate competition for the Eagles’ shirt and that is why anybody can come out and bluff. That is why a lot of us praise the decision of CAF to start this home-based team competition. That will be a good challenge.

Apart from that, these boys are earning fat salaries in their respective clubs and when they come back to play in Nigeria, what benefit, what remuneration do they derive? If you want to take the cake from a kid, you must be ready to give him something better than the cake. We are talking in the area of motivation and incentives now. These are also some factors that might have ... Then, another technical factor is this: When these boys play in their respective clubs, they play along with high-class players and because they have been together for a long time, he can close his eyes and send a pass to any space, he knows somebody would be there. That is what I was saying about 11 players thinking like one man. That does not come automatically. The boys have to be together regularly and that is why I have been preaching that the nucleus of the national team should be home-based players. These factors are there and in this country, we have not got the technical culture. If a player leaves Brazil for ten years, by the time he comes back, he knows what to do in the national team. We don’t have the culture. It has not been established. The body to establish the culture is not even on the ground and that is the technical department. So, there are series of problems.

Talking about motivation, the NFA announced what each of the players would get at each stage of the Nations Cup in Ghana. Do you think that was not enough?
When you are talking about motivation, it goes beyond money. Money is important but there are other factors that are important like their general welfare and taking care of their social life and so on. That is why when you put players in camp, there are reports that they abscond from camp.

You have to make life in camp better than life outside, they are human beings. But when they have better things outside, of course, they will go out and look for those better things. So, it goes beyond money. That is one of the mistakes we make; we think it is money, money all the time. It is not just money.

Are you advocating what Sven-Goran Eriksson did with the England national team, that is allowing these players to bring in their wives and girlfriends?
That is the limit, not necessarily so. Even when you do that, there is a limit. You know, it must be controlled. It is the responsibility of the NFA to sit down and look into all these areas. One thing I hate to hear is people talking about code of conduct in camp. It shows ineffective management.

If your management is good, you operate open administration, you don’t need to codefy your rules and laws for people to understand, everybody understands what he is supposed to do, he does it. It is not just a question of bringing girlfriends, it may be part of it, I agree. But it is not limited to that.

If there is no code of conduct, how will discipline be maintained in the team?
When I went to the World Cup in 2002, did I have a code of conduct? And there was no single report of misbehaviour from anybody. I have explained it; open administration, everybody understands why you are here. Eventually and actually, every player becomes a policeman because of the commitment. It depends on how you present the situation to the players. You don’t need to regiment everything. If you have nothing to hide, why do you have to sit down and write a code of conduct?

All you have to do is to get everybody committed with open administration and make sure that everybody’s demand is met as much as possible. Even in 1983-85 with the then Green Eagles, I didn’t have a code of conduct. With Shooting Stars here, I didn’t have a code of conduct and I had no problem of discipline.

As a technical man, how will you assess Amodu Shaibu? Is he competent enough to handle the Eagles? Does he have the technical know-how to take the Eagles to where they rightly belong?
You see, a lot of time, especially in this type of issue, our vision is narrow, too narrow. Everybody now thinks about Amodu Shaibu, nobody is talking about the type of support he needs to succeed and that is one key area. From my own experience, I can give you series of example. In 1983, the first time I handled the national team, I made requisition for certain items and one of them was that I was asking for 30 balls because I would have 30 or 40 players in camp. The then chairman of the NFA invited me, wondering how I could have asked for more than one ball because, according to him, as far as he was concerned, you play only one ball at a time. He was not being wicked but that was the limit of his understanding. He was a nice gentleman. If I was a whiteman, if I requested for those 30, they would have sent someone to Germany to buy 100 or 1000. That is just one item.

Then, you have a lot of things that have to do with the welfare of the team, including the officials. I was with the Eagles for about two and a half years, I didn’t have a room as an official residence, I had a Volkswagen Beetle for my official vehicle.

It goes far beyond the ability of the coach. The ability of the coach is important, I’m not underrating it, but then a lot of other factors go with it. There was a step which I believe should have been done better, appointing assistants for Amodu Shaibu. How will he be able to control them? What we discovered in this country is that some of them will have the ears of people in authority more than Amodu. So, what is going to happen? There are a lot of factors.

But talking about Shaibu, I think he has some experience and I looked at the array of people who aspired to occupy that position, I don’t think there is anyone of them who has higher level of experience than Amodu. If that is the case, then, one can justify his appointment.

Some Nigerians believe you should have been given the job after Berti Vogts left. If you had been called upon, would you have accepted the job? Are you interested in handling the Eagles again?
I am happy you used a phrase here, if I had been called upon. But nobody called upon me to do it. Rather, some people subtly wanted me to apply like the other boys. I have a lot of regard for everybody, including all those who applied for the job. But you have a sort of structure, a sort of strata in an establishment and in individual life. Nobody invited me for discussion on it and I decided a long time ago that I was never going to beg to apply for a football position in this country anymore. Everybody knows I am around and if the NFA believes that I have anything to offer, we would discuss. I’m not asking them to come and beg me to serve my country neither should they expect me to beg to serve my country.

That is my stand. You know, mutual respect, understanding, let’s sit down, let’s talk about it. So, it is hypothetical, if and I don’t want to discuss hypothetical issue. I want to be practical.

Your decision may be based on the fact that some people believe you cannot work with the NFA?
I’m aware of that but why they think so, I don’t know. But some reasons which I have got from some sources is that I think it is borne out of the respect and regard they have for me. A typical Nigerian wants to be in position of authority. When you find somebody who is more knowledgeable, most Nigerians don’t feel comfortable with that. With all modesty, I’ve heard some of them say ‘if Onigbinde is with us, after he has spoken, what else do you want us to say?’ Why do you have to say something if the person who has spoken is saying the right thing, why do you have to say something? But that is Nigerian situation.
I have nothing against anybody. It is a national issue and I don’t know why people want to personalise it.

Talking about the 2002 World Cup, it is believed in some quarters that you did not assemble the best Nigeria could offer for the Korea/Japan 2002. Could you explain what informed the selection of your team to the World Cup?
Anybody who says that was being mischievous because you remember my coming into the Eagles at that time had an origin the performances in Mali and many Nigerians said they didn’t want to see any of these boys anymore. So, how can they now blame me for making alternative selection? I received messages, telephone calls, people threatening my life if I allowed those boys back. So, what did they expect me to have done? Manufacture players? And there were some of these players I invited who refused to come, like Yakubu Aiyegbeni. He said he had eye surgery. When he discovered that the team was building up, that was where he now started pressurising me that he wanted to come back and I said go and take care of your eyes. At any rate, some of these boys I invited are still being used today. Who are the better players I could have used?

I remember a media man who came to my house and insulted me for taking John Utaka along to the World Cup. What is the position of Utaka today in the team? I took Osaze Odemwingie as apprentice player, I didn’t register him. What is his position in the national team today? So, anybody who says it is just being cheeky. Look at the team I used against England at that competition, how many people expected that we could play a draw against England? Even against Argentina, how many people expected that Argentina wouldn’t have beaten us by five or six goals?

You said the players you took the World Cup are still being used in the national team. But apart from Kanu, Utaka, Enyeama and Ejide who are still around, others have fizzled out (Cuts in) Like who and who?
Like Pius Ikedia, Justice Christopher, among others. Pius Ikedia was there before I came. Was that my selection? You have mentioned an array of them now. Both Ejide and Enyeama were brought in by me and you can still mention a few other names. I told the authorities in Japan that the team I was going to use against England was Nigeria’s future team. Is it so now? Definitely, players are going to fizzle out. It is a normal process and it is because some people don’t believe that, that we are having problem with the national team; we keep recycling players and is not giving us good result.

Some of the players you took to the World Cup like Taribo and Okocha said you gave them elementary coaching. Well, I gave them elementary coaching and it was the elementary coaching that saw Okocha into Bolton. After Mali, everybody thought Okocha was finished. When I came in, I told him what I wanted him to do, he did them and he was effective and eventually got into Bolton.

But when he relapsed into his old system, I said it in the Nigerian media that he would have problem in Bolton and he did. What they regard as elementary coaching is this: No matter how high you are, if I believe you are not good enough in heading, I will take you down to the basics because I want you to do it right. You are talking about Taribo, forget about Taribo. What has happened to him now, even after he left me? You remember I didn’t use him against England.

What chances do you think Samson Siasia’s Dream Team IV and the Super Falcons have at the forthcoming Beijing Olympics?
Their chances would depend on what the coaches put into the teams. It is not technically sound for me to begin to think about their chances now. The team we saw yesterday may not be the same team tomorrow even without changing the players. So, it depends on what they put into the teams between now and then.

We are used to last-minute preparation in Nigeria. As it is now, much is not being heard of the preparations of the various sports going to the Olympics. What advice will you give the National Sports Commission?
I think you have given the right advice that we should deviate from this fire-brigade approach. That is what your question suggests and I agree with you.

Let’s have a development programme on the ground. It’s not just preparing for a competition. Ideally in sports, you don’t prepare for a competition, you prepare your team for any eventuality. If competition comes along, you go into it, you don’t need any special preparation if your developmental programme is in good shape.

CAF introduced recently an African championship for home-based national team players. Do you think this will rub off positively on the Nigerian players, considering the fact that the aim of most of them is to go out and ply their trades abroad?
You are putting a lot of things into that question. Number one, it is a perfectly right decision for CAF to organise this type of competition for home-based players. I hope it will force us to do what I have been preaching; let’s develop this game at home so that the nucleus of the national team should be home-based players. Who are the champions of Africa now? Egypt. I was in Ghana, I saw the list of their 23 registered players, only two were foreign-based. I think that should be a good lesson to all African countries. That is what I have been preaching in Nigeria. The coming of that competition, I think, is a good step and I have commended CAF on it. But again, it would now depend on how we handle the situation in Nigeria.

The question of players leaving for abroad is a normal process. Nigeria has about 150 million people; if 1000 players leave this country, what stops us from producing another 2000 to replace them if we have a good developmental programme? There is no developmental programme. We have to improve on the standard of the local league.

What should be done to improve the Nigerian league?
Why are people no longer going to watch our premier league? There is no excitement. There is no excitement because we are not developing. Where are the likes of Odegbami? Where are the likes of Mudashiru Lawal, Atuegbu, Garba, Okoye? Where are their likes in this country today? That is why people are not going to watch. You go out to watch a match, you doze off because there is no excitement.

Let us talk about Chief Adegboye Onigbinde. You turned 70 on March 5. How smooth has your life journey been?
I would say it has been very smooth with my understanding of life. Life is filled with ups and downs. Without darkness, light will have no meaning. Without night, the day will have no meaning. When you go through all these vicissitudes of life, they are supposed to make you strong and be a better person. That is why when I say among friends, people who know what I’ve gone through that I have never had any problem in life, they look at me as if I’m crazy because they know what I have gone through. Without hills, there will be no valleys. That is life. Every step I’ve taken has been progress step.

Defeat is in the mind and that is why the Yoruba say that olokunrun lo ma n fe nu ara re pe iku ( when a man is on sick bed and say will this sickness not kill me) you better look for a good grave. But if you believe that all negative things that happen to you are supposed to catapult you to higher heights, then you will have a different approach to life.
What we consider evil by our own perception is because we don’t believe in God. If your belief in God is strong, you will believe that God does not do evil. What you perceive as a human being to be evil may have a positive reason by your Creator. You must be prepared for some hardship in life.

I’ve gone though several stages of life. People come and talk and they criticise you but you just have to understand that they will talk up to the limit of their understanding of your background and your experience.

So what has life taught you?
Life is a very interesting process depending on how you take it. Life will never offer you with anything you cannot bear. If you are talking about life, you are talking about God because He is the giver of life and He is All-wise. One of the things I learnt which I have practised is that whatever comes up in my life, I want to give it a trial because I believe nothing can come up in my life without the approval of the Almighty and if He pushes something towards me, I want to give it a close view and give it a trial and see what I come up with. If it does come out successfully, I would have learnt a lesson. If it doesn’t succeed, that will make me a better person when I face similar problem tomorrow.

Why did you remove Festus from your name?
The first question is why was the name given to me? Is it the name that makes me a Christian? By Yoruba tradition, every name given to a child has a connotation, maybe as a result of family religion, circumstances, period of birth and so on. What is the meaning of Festus? I don’t know that meaning. When I was born, they called me Adegboye. I’ve seen the reflection of that Adegboye in my life because Adegboye means somebody who has come to claim a chieftaincy or something like that. When my family members were requested by the community to present a chief, they came around and at the end of a long process, the family decided I was going be. Everything has its connotation, its implications. Festus, up till now, does not mean anything to me. It is not the name that will make a good Christian anyway.

Behind every successful man, they say, there must be a woman. Much is not heard about your marital life. Could you tell us about it. How many wives do you have?
You don’t know. I know and a lot of people do. I don’t hide it, I’m a polygamist and I have no regret about it. In fact, I’m happy with it because I’m not a pretender. A lot of people will claim to be monogamist and they have houses rented all over the town, and all over the country for their concubines. I’m not a pretender, I’m happy with my system. So, I’m happily married with my wives.

People say you like women, is it true, Sir?
Show me a man who does not like women. But most of you people are pretenders. I don’t like women as much as a lot of people who claim to be monogamist but we know what they do all over the places. Yes, I like women. Show me a man who does not like women, then he is not a complete man. I love women, that is ordained by God for every man that is complete. My sin is that I’m not a pretender. Who is the sinner? Is it people who think I should be a pretender that are sinners or myself? I’m proud of the type of life I’m living.

How easy is it for you to combine the stress of polygamous home with your career as a coach?
Let me ask, have I been successful in my career? Had there been any chaos in my home? That is part of what I’m saying, pretences and maturity. Be realistic, be objective. People, even friends understand my approach to life. What is anybody’s business with the way I live my life as long as I’m not impugning on the right of anybody? Haven’t you heard of monogamous men committing suicide because of family problem between the wife and husband? Haven’t you heard of monogamous women developing hypertension? What we should talk about is the intelligence and the attitude of the man and the woman. A lot of people put their argument on religion. Was Abraham a monogamist? Was Solomon a monogamist? Even Joseph, the acclaimed father of Jesus, was he a monogamist? What is all this pretence about?

People argue that you don’t forgive easily. Is it true sir?
These are people who don’t understand me. People who are close to me know, and I will give you examples, that I bear no grudge against anybody. After the World Cup match against England, Ike Shorunmu was no longer in talking terms with me but at the end of the day, I was the person who nominated him for the national team. Within Ibadan here, people know the relationship between Niyi Akande and myself. Eventually, I brought him in to assist me. What are the evidences of not forgiving? That is what destroys many people. I can give you several examples. There were reasons why I shouldn’t have called Henry Nwosu to assist me when I was going to the World Cup but I didn’t do it. I treat issues on individual merit. Like in coaching, if a player is bad in heading, I will shout on him even if in the next five minutes I’m doing passing and I believe he is the best, I’ll sing his praises. That is my life and that is why many people wonder why I still look so young at 70. I have no place for animosity in my mind. I don’t know whatever reason anyone may have for saying that but whatever their reason, everybody is entitled to his opinion. What matters to me is whatever you think I am, I want to make sure I remain what I want to be.