The Bureau of the FIFA Council has approved the appointment of a Normalisation Committee to oversee the affairs of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) pending fresh elections into its Executive Committee.
The NFF disclosed this in a statement, citing a letter signed by FIFA Secretary-General Mattias Grafström and addressed to Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme.
According to the letter, the committee will comprise members to be jointly appointed by FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as soon as possible.
The committee will remain in office until it completes its assigned tasks, but no later than May 31, 2027.
FIFA also stipulated that none of the committee members would be eligible to contest any position in the forthcoming NFF elections.
Pending the committee’s appointment, the NFF Secretariat will continue to manage the federation’s day-to-day operations and oversee the administration of Nigerian football.
The decision follows a series of developments in Nigerian football administration in August, when former NFF President Ibrahim Gusau, General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi and members of the federation’s Executive Committee resigned.
Following the resignations, the National Sports Commission (NSC) approved Emmanuel Ikpeme as interim General Secretary and Ademola Olajire as interim Deputy General Secretary. The planned NFF elective congress was also suspended pending reforms.
President Bola Tinubu had earlier directed a comprehensive reform of Nigerian football, tasking the NSC with working alongside the NFF and engaging FIFA and CAF on the process.
