The Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh, is disappointed that Nigerian officials are not included in the list of match officials for the upcoming 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote D’Ivoire.
Enoh is determined to take action and engage with the relevant organizations to address this issue. He wants to make sure that Nigerian officials are included in future tournaments.
It’s worth noting that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has already listed 85 referees from various countries for the AFCON. Surprisingly, no Nigerian referee is part of the 43 shortlisted for the preparation course.
This raises concerns about the absence of Nigerian match officials in the Nations Cup next year. Senator Enoh is committed to finding a solution to this and ensuring that Nigerian referees have the opportunity to contribute to the tournament.
The Minister stated thus “at the last AFCON (2021), Nigeria only had one assistant referee listed amongst the match officials. Two years prior, we didn’t have any centre referee too. Going in to the next AFCON, we still won’t have any Nigerian official. I am going to interrogate this matter. We will have engagements with the NFF, the Referees’ Association, the League Board, because we need to get to the bottom of this.”
The African Nations Cup is billed to take place between January 13 and February 11, 2024, across five cities in Cote D’Ivoire. Nigeria’s Super Eagles topped Group A of the qualifying series to secure participation.
