I don't believe this!
LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Football referees in Nigeria can take bribes from clubs but should not allow them to influence their decisions on the pitch, a football official said on Friday.
Fanny Amun, acting Secretary-General of the Nigerian Football Association, said bribery was common in the Nigerian game.
"We know match officials are offered money or anything to influence matches and they can accept it," Amun told Reuters on Friday.
Amun first made the statement earlier in the week to a football -- or soccer -- seminar in the capital Abuja, prompting protests from other officials.
"Referees should only pretend to fall for the bait, but make sure the result doesn't favor those offering the bribe," Amun said.
At the seminar, Nigerian football league chairman Oyuiki Obaseki reprimanded referees for poor quality match reports, saying that bribery was to blame.
"The quality of your reports have not done our league any good, so please desist from corrupt practices," he told delegates..
Is it that bad? Na wa oh!
1 comment:
Tony,
Understand our confusion over bribery in Nigeria.
We did not invent the word "Bribery". In our tradition, we give Kolanut or "Owo ipanu" that is complimentary dash.
Let comment on the example of our most insulted Nigerian police officers collecting money at check-points whether you commit an offence or not. So, that is not bribery.
Our police officers are perhaps the worst paid police officers in the world. They are so poor that they even wear rubber slippers and canvas shoes to work, because they have not been given boots to replace the worn and torn boots given to them 10 years ago. And they live in barracks that someone from America or Europe can mistake for a prison yard. So, the government does not respect them and when you deprive any man of his dignity, he does no longer care about his integrity or nobility.
I understand the psyche of our people, because I have always been with them since my birth to date. And as you already know, I wasn't born yesterday.
If we want our referees, police officers and other people to stop bribery and corruption, we must restore their dignity and integrity. Pay them good wages and provide good accommodation for them to improve their living standards and make them to be ashamed to collect anymore bribes.
Leadership is best by example.
You cannot bribe me with money, but bring a very pretty and sexy Sharon-Stone-like babe to me and you can keep your cash. Because, with the babe, I can have fun and also become her manager in Sugar Daddy Business and make more money.
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