The NFF Congress isn't opposed to reform. It's opposed to reform that bypasses the very institutions built to deliver it. That's the central message from the Congress's September 2026 proposal, which lays out a detailed alternative to a FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee — and doesn't pull many punches in doing so.
The resignation of the NFF Executive Committee and General Secretary created what the Congress calls a "serious governance vacuum." Their answer? Don't hand control to an outside body. Convene an Extraordinary Congress, work through the existing statutes, and get to elections within roughly six months.
The Caretaker Proposal
Rather than a Normalisation Committee, the Congress is backing a Caretaker Committee with a three-to-six month mandate, named and specific. The proposed members are Christopher Green Esq., Hon. Abubakar Ladan, Mr. L.A. Haruna SAN, Engineer Waheed Akanni, Rukayat Segilola Alaya, Coach Oko Victor Ndubuisi, and Professor Tor Iorapuu. Their job: stabilise the Federation and shepherd the statutory process toward credible elections — not replace elected governance permanently.
The Congress is clear that a Normalisation Committee should only come into play if FIFA formally concludes that the NFF's own constitutional process has broken down beyond repair. That's a high bar, deliberately set.
The broader reform roadmap stretches six to 24 months across eight phases. The first month is about institutional stabilisation. Months one to four cover legal diagnostics, governance reform, and statutory revisions. Elections are targeted around month five or six. Everything after that — commercial development, player welfare, women's and youth football, infrastructure — follows once new leadership is installed.
The Money Questions
Some of the financial proposals floating around Nigerian football reform got a cautious reception from Congress. The proposed ₦2 million monthly minimum salary for players, a ₦2.5 billion prize-money fund, and a ₦15 billion media-production allocation are all flagged for independent feasibility assessments before any commitments are locked in. That's not obstruction — that's basic fiscal sense applied to figures that are ambitious even by the standards of more commercially developed leagues.
Congress also wants the Nigeria Women's Football League and Nigeria National League to get proper attention in any media rights restructuring, rather than being afterthoughts to the NPFL.
On government involvement, the Congress draws a firm line: public money and legislative support are welcome, but they don't buy administrative control. Any funding arrangement should come with transparent procurement, independent audits, and regular reporting. The autonomy principle isn't negotiable.
The Congress is also proposing structural changes to its own voting composition — expanding from 53 voting members under the 2026 Statute to a broader model of 146 members holding 73 voting mandates, with representation for players, coaches, referees, women's football, youth football, beach soccer, and supporters.
Whether FIFA accepts the Congress's preferred sequencing or pushes ahead with a Normalisation Committee anyway is the real question hanging over all of this. The proposal is coherent and legally grounded. Whether it's politically viable is another matter entirely.
