Sports Minister Enoh Fumes Over Non- Non-Listing Of Nigerian Referees For AFCON 2023

Nigeria’s Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh, has expressed his displeasure over the non-inclusion of Nigerian referees among the match officials listed for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations that will be hosted by Cote D’Ivoire from January 13 to February 11/2024, Completesports.com reports.
“Given Nigeria’s population and pedigree in football, the country should not be in such a predicament, I will hold engagements with bodies related to the matter and see how we can remedy this going forward,” an appalled Senator Enoh said.
“I was duly informed that at the last AFCON (2021), Nigeria had only one assistant referee listed amongst the match officials. Two years prior, we didn’t have any centre referee too. Going into the next AFCON, we still won’t have any Nigerian official.
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“I am going to interrogate this matter. We will have engagements with the NFF, the  Referees’ Association, and the League Board because we need to get to the bottom of this,” the minister reiterated.
Senator Enoh also said that without prejudice to the outcome, the development – of not having Nigerian referees featuring in Africa’s flagship football championship calls for a reflection of the institutional setting within which sports are being administered in the country. He asserted his commitment to ensuring that sports across all facets thrive in the nation, for Nigeria to stand tall in the comity of nations.
The 34th Africa Cup of Nations is billed to take place across five cities in Cote D’Ivoire. Theee-time African Champions, Nigeria’s Super Eagles, topped Group A of the qualifying series to secure participation.
By Richard Jideaka Abuja
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