The Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has issued a strongly worded statement expressing deep disappointment over the performance of referees officiating in the country’s major domestic leagues.
Following a comprehensive assessment of match officials in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Nigeria National League (NNL), Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) and the Nationwide League One (NLO), the Committee in a Wednesday December 10 meeting, revealed that a “great number” of referees were found wanting in key areas of professionalism and integrity.
According to the communique released by the NFF media, the evaluation exposed worrying levels of poor officiating, incompetence, collusion with club officials, and outright manipulation of matches to favour specific teams and interests.
The governing body described the findings as unacceptable and warned that tougher punitive measures would be introduced imminently to restore credibility to the domestic game.
The Executive Committee noted that maintaining the integrity of football competitions is a top priority and stressed that officials who continue to undermine the system will be decisively sanctioned.