Former General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba, who retired from the Federal Civil Service as Director, Federation of Elite Athletes Department, National Sports Commission (NSC), said he had no regret spending 25 years in service.

Ojo-Oba spoke at a news conference to mark his retirement after he clocked 60 yesterday.

He said he had survived the ups and downs in the course of doing the job, adding that experiences reinforced his belief in the system.

“There is no regret that I am leaving the service.

“If I had not exhibited some measure of perseverance or patience, probably I would not have been where we are today.

“When we were joining the service, we never said we wanted to become Commissioner in charge of Information, Youths, Sports and Culture.

“We never said we wanted to become Games Service Manager of the All Africa Games, we never said we wanted to be General Secretary of the NFA which was the ultimate and still the ultimate.

“All these things happened between the times I joined and now that I am leaving, so where is the regret?

“If there will be any regret at all, I will say it is positive regret that I decided to retire. So, I enjoyed every bit of my service year including the ups and downs.

“If a journey is too straight forward, one should even be careful. So, like every other earthly venture, I had my own share of the ups and downs and they later came to reinforce my belief in the system.

He, however, gave thanks to God for the grace to contribute his quota to sports for two and a half decades.

“I give thanks to Almighty God for the grace of being able to contribute the little for Nigerian sports in the past two and a half decade.

“From a mere freelance interpreter working part time for the then NFA, I am leaving the civil service today to the glory of God as a full director in charge of the activities of all the sports federations.

“I also want to fully appreciate my bosses all over the years. My special appreciation goes to the former FIFA referee, Festus Okubule for the insight he gave me.

“Also, for the role he played in changing my course from being a classroom teacher to a part timer prior to full time employment with the NSC.’’

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ojo-Oba started his career in the civil service in 1989 as a Senior Bilingual Secretary of the NSC.

He became the Head of NFA’s International Competitions Department from 1990 to 1992 before later becoming the Head of Department of Competitions from 1992 to 1995.

Ojo-Oba later became NFA’s Head of Marketing and Sponsorship Department in 1995 before becoming an officer in the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Planning till 1997.

He later became the Commissioner for Information, Youth, Sports and Culture in Oyo State from 1997 to 1999.

Ojo-Oba later rose to the post of an Assistant Director, Federal Ministry of Sports And Social Development from 2004 to 2005.

He became the Secretary General of the NFA from 2007 to 2010 before becoming a Deputy Director of Sports.