Onigbinde, who expressed the concern in a telephone interview, urged football authorities to curb the proliferation of such institutions.
He said there should be guidelines for the establishment of football academies to ensure control and uniformity.
``This is a battle I have been fighting for decades not years; I have always insisted that the proliferation of football academies in this country should be controlled; but it has been difficult because some of the people who should be in a position to control it are also owners of these academies; so they don’t want to make a law against themselves.
``And I have always given the analogy that we can have one million football academies in this country, but they must be operated on specific guidelines set by the national football body.
``As an illiterate, the constitution of this country allows me to establish a university; but before I do it, I must go to the university council, who will give me the guidelines: the type of staffs I must have, the type of facilities, and the content of my courses; but we don’t have that happening here.”
Onigbinde also said that lack of guidelines regulating the activities of such academies had made it possible for imposters to take undue advantage of players who want to play football abroad.
``In fact some of the people who are taking these children out are not even running any academy. Many parents, who have sold their properties and spent millions on these people, have come to me.
``In some cases the so-called agents will take them to the airport and abandon the boys there. With those who are not fortunate enough, they manage to get them on the plane and as soon as they get to their destinations, they are engaged.
``And some of them are roaming the streets of Europe and other countries all over the world; it’s unfortunate and this is because these things are not being controlled; it’s unfortunate.’’
He, then, urged the authorities to do something urgent to arrest the already bad situation.
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