Gara Gombe decries poor officiating in Nigeria 

Gara Gombe decries poor officiating in Nigeria 

By Vincent Akinbami, Kaduna 

A former chairman of Gombe United, Alhaji Shaibu Gara Gombe has cried out over the poor level of officiating in the country.

According to him, bad officiating is one of the major problems affecting the development of the Nigerian league and football in general.

He admitted the the country has intelligent referees but lamented that the system has affected negatively.

Alhaji Gombe said the NFF president needs to carry out a drastic action to solve the problem of officiating in Nigeria.

Suggesting way forward, he said the NFF president can select 50 people with interest and passion to be trained as referees.

"The 50 people must be professional or be gainfully employed, they must also pass fitness test.

"The NFF can also take them for training abroad and on return deploy them for the Nigeria Premier Football League and FA Cup matches," he advised.

Alhaji Gombe said other referees trained locally should handle the NNL and the NLO.

He added that among the older ones, sanctions should be meted out to anyone found guilty in officiating.

As for the match commissioners, Alhaji advised before any of them is assigned a match, the NFF and the NPFL should ensure those picked shouldn't be lacking in credibility.

"Any person with tainted record of credibility should not be selected as match commissioner. It should no longer about helping a friend rather it should be about competency," he submitted.