On Thursday in Abuja, Enoh reacted to the checklist of match officials released by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) forward of the occasion scheduled for January 2024.
He said given Nigeria’s football pedigree and inhabitants, the country ought to mute no longer be in this kind of predicament that is now changing correct into a trend.
The minister promised to have interaction with associated stakeholders, equivalent to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Nigeria Referees Affiliation (NRA), to reverse the trend.
“At the closing AFCON (2021), Nigeria preferrred had one assistant referee listed amongst the match officials. Two years prior, we didn’t non-public any centre referee too.
“Going into the following AFCON (2023), we mute obtained’t non-public any Nigerian officials; I will search data from this matter.
“We can non-public engagements with the NFF, the Referees’ Affiliation, and the League Board on story of we desire to safe to the bottom of this,” he said.
Enoh infamous that with out prejudice to the discontinuance consequence, the scheme requires a reflection of the institutional environment within which sports activities are being administered within the country.
He reiterated his dedication to ensuring that sports activities thrive in Nigeria to stand unheard of within the comity of worldwide locations.
On Tuesday, CAF unveiled 85 referees, comprising centre referees, assistant referees, VARs, and technical instructors, for the 2023 AFCON, with out any Nigerian unswerving incorporated.
Egypt and Algeria, in North Africa, non-public three names listed within the centre referees checklist, adopted by Morocco, Mauritania, and Mauritius, every with two.
Other worldwide locations on the checklist encompass Gabon, Ghana, Benin, Congo, Somalia, and so forth.
The assistant referees checklist contains two representatives from Morocco, Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, and lesser-known worldwide locations love Comoros, Djibouti, Burkina Faso, and Sao Tome and Principe.
Four VAR referees were chosen from Mauritius, South Africa, Morocco, and Egypt. The next worldwide locations were selected for the technical instructors and physical trainers: Zimbabwe, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Morocco, and Djibouti.
The 2023 AFCON finals, from January 13 to February 11, 2024, will characteristic 24 worldwide locations vying for the championship, including Nigeria’s Gigantic Eagles.
(NAN)
