There is a brewing storm within Nigerian football circles as certified CAF instructors lock horns with the Nigeria Football Federation’s technical director, Austin Eguavoen. At the heart of the friction is what insiders describe as a deeply flawed and lopsided approach to conducting the recent wave of CAF D coaching courses nationwide.
Frustration has boiled over among the country’s elite coaching educators, with a significant chunk of Nigeria’s 29 licensed CAF instructors feeling deliberately sidelined. Eguavoen has spearheaded these training programmes across Bayelsa, Edo, Delta, Ogun, and Osun states relying on a surprisingly lean crew, moving across regions alongside Dr. Terry Eguaoje and an individual flagged as uncertified.
Discontent among the affected instructors is palpable. Speaking anonymously to protect their professional standings, several educators did not mince words regarding the current setup. One disgruntled instructor argued that sidelining nearly three dozen qualified professionals makes little administrative or practical sense, pointing out that rolling out these regional courses simultaneously with multiple qualified hands would have been far more efficient and equitable. Another source within the coaching fraternity criticized the inclusion of uncertified personnel to deliver academic papers, questioning the standards being upheld in official coaching pathways.
The escalating dispute has thankfully caught the attention of top sports administrators. Recent developments indicate that the Director General of the National Institute for Sports, Philip Shuaibu, has stepped in to mediate and restore peace between the warring factions.
This administrative drama unfolds at a particularly delicate career crossroads for Eguavoen, who is actively lobbying to retain his position as the NFF technical director even as his current contract approaches its expiration. How this leadership tussle gets resolved may very well determine the immediate future of coaching education in the country.
