By Ado Salisu
The Nigeria School Sport Federation (NSSF), technical partners for the FirstBank/Samuel Okwaraji Foundation (SOF) National Secondary Schools Football Championship, has commended the high standard of organisation and competition recorded in the inaugural edition of the tournament.
With state representatives already determined across all the Northern states and most of the Southern states, the federation expressed satisfaction that the championship is meeting its core objective of discovering football talents in secondary schools through a transparent and credible process.
NSSF Secretary-General, Dr Oba Funsho Usman, said the measures put in place had significantly reduced the use of ineligible players and mercenaries, a challenge that has often undermined grassroots competitions.
“We know the things that mar brilliant grassroots initiatives of this nature, and we have blocked all loopholes and dealt decisively with those negative practices this time around.
“The NSSF is thrilled with all that has been achieved in this FirstBank/Samuel Okwaraji Foundation competition. The main objective is to ensure that talents in secondary schools have a national platform to showcase themselves.
“State representatives have emerged in all the Northern states—North East, North West and North Central—as well as in the South East and South South, while the South West will conclude its finals this weekend.
“The state finals had to be staggered to ensure they were properly organised and monitored. This is a national competition, so there must be strict adherence to standards.
“That is why, as technical partners, we are delighted with the high standards recorded in this inaugural edition. Our goal is to lay a solid foundation for future editions and, most importantly, provide the right platform for genuine young talents of the appropriate age to be discovered,” Usman said.
The championship, also known as the Memoir Cup, is organised in honour of late Nigerian football legend Samuel Okwaraji, who collapsed and died on August 12, 1989, while representing Nigeria in a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Angola at the National Stadium, Lagos.
