Date: 2012-09-26

Four years after leaving Kwara Football Academy, former Super Eagles handler, Clemens Westerhof, still has much to celebrate about the initiative introduced by Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, as the current technical director is still struggling to justify the huge investment on him to make the Academy produce quality players for both local and international use.

Paul Ashworth replaces Westerhof as the technical director of the institution, but the Englishman has not added any outstanding and quality players to the one discovered by the Dutch coach after almost three years in charge because his job has been hijacked by politicians.

Aside that, screening exercises organised by the school have been critised by Ilorin football stakeholders.

Finding revealed that no player in the academy has got an opportunity to play outside the country since the exit of Westerhof.

The Administrator of the Academy, Kumbi Titiloye, was quoted to have said in a national daily recently that his numerous bids to secure professional contract for the players of the academy was yielding positive results, part of which, according to him, was a trip to Italy last year at no cost to the institution.

A visit to the school to find out what is happening yielded little result, as the technical director was not available, while the administrator was said to be on holiday. But one of the staff, who agreed to speak on the grounds that his name would not be mentioned, said that the spirit of the coaches and players of the academy was low, blaming it on  some powerful politicians in the state who seem to have taken over and holding meetings with some of the staff and even promoted some without the knowledge of the management.