Sports Minister to probe non-inclusion of Nigerian referees for AFCON

Nigeria’s Sports Minister, Senator John Owan Enoh, has expressed his intention to look into the reason why Nigerian match officials are seldom listed for continental football tournaments.

Enoh’s expression comes after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) released the names of match officials ahead of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) which kicks off in January.

Ripples Nigeria recalls that Nigeria had only one assistant referee listed amongst the match officials in the last edition of the tournament.

And in the edition prior to that, the country did not have any centre referee listed as well.

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The Minister expressed his displeasure, adding that he would have a discussion with those in charge of football in the country.

“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,” said the Sports Minister as quoted by CSN.

“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 34th Africa Cup of Nations is billed to take place across five cities in Cote D’Ivoire between January 13 and February 11, 2024.

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