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The 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has criticised the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for allegedly failing to deliver a FIFA-funded stadium promised to Anambra State.
In a post on X on Monday, Obi reacted to recent reports accusing the NFF of mismanaging funds provided by FIFA for grassroots football and stadium development projects.
According to Obi, when he served as governor of Anambra, officials from the Sports Federation informed him that the state capital, Awka, had been chosen as one of six locations for the construction of a FIFA-standard stadium to be fully financed by FIFA.
“We immediately allocated land for the project, and they assured us that the development would be handled through the Federal Ministry of Sports. That was the last we heard of it,” Obi stated.
Believing the project was genuine, his administration redirected resources towards building smaller stadiums across the state to boost youth participation in sports. These included the Chuba Ikpeazu Memorial Stadium and the Godwin Achebe Stadium, both in Onitsha.
However, Obi lamented that the promised FIFA project never materialised, describing the situation as a “blatant squandering of opportunities” for Nigerian youths.
He also called for a deeper investigation into the NFF’s financial activities, claiming such a probe “will reveal even worse realities than what we currently know.”
In response, the NFF stated that all funds received from FIFA and CAF undergo annual audits by independent auditors and are allocated strictly for designated purposes under close financial monitoring and compliance procedures.
