Dare: Rohr’s Fate As Eagles Cach Will Follow Due Process

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

Sport and Social Development Minister, Mr Sunday Dare has declared that deciding

the fate of the Super Eagles’ Coach, Mr Gernot Rohr, will follow due process.

The Minister who dsclosed this Thursday at the weekly ministerial briefing hosted by the Presidential Media Team at the State House in Abuja said his ministry will follow due process in dealing with matters concerning the national football players and the technical staff.

He said he would wait for the report from the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) on the performance of the team in the recent matches, review it before taking necessary action.

While noting that he could not speak much on the matter, he assured that that the NFF report will be ready by next week, saying that the ministry will act based on its content.

He, however, vowed that the Super Eagles must qualify for Qatar 2022 as everything will be done to ensure that.

“The NFF has been directed to as a matter of urgency to present Rohr’s report card to the ministry, because we are interested in knowing how well or bad the coach has performed since he was given the task of leading the Super Eagles”

“Until the NFF presents the report of the performance of the coach to the ministry, there will not be a decision on whether to sack or allow him to continue on the job.

“I want to believe that everything should be done to ensure that Super Eagles qualify for the World Cup. When the FIFA President came visiting President Muhammadu Buhari here, I recall he said ‘Mr. President, see you in Qatar’. In that word I stand. So I have instructed the NFF to bring an Assessment Report on Coach Rohr”, Dare said.

The minister’s comments came against the rumours that the leadership of the NFF may have resolved to sack the Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr.

The Minister also revealed plans to revive the moribund National Sports Commission (NSC)

According to him the Bill to bring back NSC will soon be passed, pointing out that the ministry is working closely with the National Assembly (NASS) to get the NSC Bill passed without further delay.

Said he: “the return of NSC will soon be a reality. We are seriously working with the National Assembly on the Bill for the return of NSC and very soon that Bill will be passed into Law”.

On the crises that engulfed the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Dare assured the money belonging to the players were intact in the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He said, “Basketball money is intact, no money was diverted. I made sure the money was put in NBBF domiciliary account. The money cannot be diverted. The sum of $9,500 has gone to the female players only that of the male players is still there. Any time they submit their bank details, they will be paid.”

Meanwhile, the Director General of the National Youth Service Scheme NYSC, Shuaibu Ibrahim, has allayed fears of the possible scrap of the scheme, insisting that the agency was more relevant in the course of building a united country.

According to him, the benefits of the scheme far outweighs the challenges, noting that there are some remote communities in the country who rely on posting of corps members to maintain smooth running of their health or education system.

Dare posited that Sporting Federations should be better managed under NSC so that the supervising ministry will focus on exercising its oversight functions.

Meanwhile the Minister has praised himself for reviving the moribund Principal’s Cup which he said came back to live after 25 years in the cooler.

According to the reintroduction of the highly successful Principal’s Cup which had in past produced national football icons like late Stephen Keshi, Tarila Okoronwata, Paul Okoku and Dehinde Akinlatan among others have been a blessing.