There is nothing special about the Franco-German tactician and Nigerian coaches ought to blame themselves for as long as the former Bordeaux coach continues to lead the nation’s senior football team, says Emmanuel Babayaro.
The former goalkeeper and a member of Nigeria’s 1996 Olympics gold medal-winning squad, revealed his distaste for the lapses in human resource management in the country, which enables Gernot Rohr to continue to hold sway as the Super Eagles head coach. The 43-year-old therefore believes the blame for that has to be shared by indigenous coaches.
The former goalkeeper cited inadequate certification, improper training, and refusal to upgrade their knowledge bank as the reasons why local coaches are snubbed for average European gaffers.
The Nigeria Football Federation had previously appointed the likes of Sunday Oliseh, Samson Siasia, late Stephen Keshi to varying degrees of success before Rohr was hired in 2016.
Babayaro urged Nigerian coaches to stop giving excuses and go for more training as that was the only advantage foreign coaches have over them.
“These foreign coaches can say they have multiple certificates and badges, but barely will you find Nigerian coaches who have badges less than two years. We are not in the habit of upgrading ourselves, ” Babayaro told Daily Trust.
“What we hear is complaints that the country is not helping them. Is it the country’s duty to help them to train them again after giving them the platform?
“Why can’t they train themselves? When they do, their bargaining power grows, their CV grows too. We are not doing that.
“There is nothing fantastic about the man (Gernot Rohr) in the first place, but it is not his fault that he is paid what he is paid.”