NFF President Amaju Pinnick reiterated on Monday that the Federation made no mistake taking Chairmen of State Football Associations to the United Kingdom for a leadership summit, with the Chairmen themselves heaping encomiums on Pinnick and his Board for arranging the program.

The NFF boss spoke at the presentation of a paper on ‘leadership strategies – workings of the FA,’ by Chairman of The Football Association, Mr. Greg Dyke, at Hilton Watford.

Dyke captivated his audience with a powerful presentation, laced with anecdotes, and immediately took up an invitation by Pinnick to visit Nigeria very soon for another presentation to an even larger group.

“I have always believed in capacity –enhancement. Everyone needs to regularly enhance his capacity in whatever he is doing in order to grow and become better in his/her field. Nigeria and England have incredible affinity in several areas, particularly football, and we made no mistake bringing our Congress chieftains here.

“We brought two batches of referees to England for two-week programs in the United Kingdom earlier in the year and the impact has been immediate on our League. We also bought into the PROZONE software ad trained our staff also here in the UK. Now, we have brought the custodians of grassroots football here and they are very happy with what they have seen and learnt.”

Pinnick insisted that the dream of his Board and Management is to see Nigerian Clubs quoted on the Stock Exchange, and said the FA Chairmen have great roles to play in ensuring the success of the NFF U-13 and U-15 youth programs.

Sponsors ZENITH Bank and FROT Group lauded the summit and assured they would be willing to partner with the NFF on similar programs now and in the future. Tony Uzoebo, ZENITH UK’s Executive Director (Business Development), said: “Football is like our bread and butter in Nigeria, so sharing ideas on development is brilliant. I commend the NFF led by Amaju Pinnick for their vision and competence in getting private sector to buy into their programs.”

Frank Momoh, President of FROT Group, said: “We attach so much importance to this program, because it is about knowledge and development. FROT Group invests in good causes, and this is certainly one. We appreciate that the Pinnick Board is development –oriented and result –oriented, and we will always want to be part of programs like this.”