International football referees from Nigeria have been told to continue to keep the dignity of the country sacrosanct in all their outings.

The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, gave the charge through the Referees Committee during the 2020/2021 FIFA Fitness Test organized at the National Stadium, Abuja.

According to the NFF Referees Committee chairman, Alhaji Rabiu Inuwa (Ahlan), maintenance of the good image of the country at the global and local stages should remain the watchword of FIFA badged referees from Nigeria. He informed the referees that the federation can’t stop at nothing in the pursuit of better refereeing climate in terms of training and welfare packages.

Speaking earlier, the President of the Nigeria Referees Associatian, NRA, Otunba Tade Azeez, enjoined the referees not to be deterred by setbacks caused by the Covid 19 pandemic, including the recent ENDSARS crisis, at ensuring they maintain regular physical fitness.

Otunba Azeez requested members of the association to always be safety conscious while training and on match duty especially now the earlier prohibition of football activitieshas been relaxed. He assured that the referees’ body is always turbo charged to not only cater but represent interest and members welfare.

On the FIFA Fitness Test, Head of NFF Refereeing Unit and Deputy President of the NRA, Hon Sani Zubairu rtd, stated that it is an annual event organised to test the fitness and medical levels of FIFA referees before they are presented to the Confederation of African Football, CAF for badging each year.

About 30 FIFA referees involving Men Referees, Men Assistant Referees, Women Referees, Women Assistant Referees, Futsal and Beach Soccer Referees took part in the one day exercise involving medical test, shuttle and endurance races.