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Meet Jamila Buhari; The First Female Football Referee in Nigeria 
The Kano born and bred Referee Jamila Buhari is the Pioneer of Nigerian female referee. She was the first woman to officiate a major football game in Nigeria.
Her refereeing career started well back in the early 80s in Kano where she was born and bred.
With an interview with daily trust; She said and I quote "Then we actually didn’t have women playing football but the passion I had for football was so much that I used to travel by night following the Kano State football team anytime we qualified for the challenge Cup finals. The matches were normally played in Lagos because that was the capital of Nigeria. I would travel with the supporters in the night to watch the match and then travel back in the night to Kano. Then I was like how can I really do something better. I felt being a supporter or spectator wouldn’t really give me the desired satisfaction. I enrolled as a referee in training, RIT, in 1981."
In 1991, She was listed as a FIFA referee at the first FIFA Women's World Cup in China.
She officiated the opening ceremony match of the 9th National sports festival in Bauchi.
She was part of the officials at the 1991 All Africa Games, 1991 in Cairo.
Jamila is the first female Match Commissioner in Nigeria, she commissioned the match in an international friendly between Nigeria Super Falcons and Banyana Banyana of South Africa in Lagos.
Jamila did not officiate any FIFA organised match as a center referee because there was no women football in All Africa Games and in the Olympics as it is today during her time.
In her story, she reported how she was slapped by one of the players who questioned why a woman should be refereeing a men's football match at the Kano Township Stadium in Sabon Gari.
She was also the first female board member of the Nigeria Football Federation NFA now NFF.
She officiated for 13 years before she retired.
The Kano born and bred Referee Jamila Buhari is the Pioneer of Nigerian female referee. She was the first woman to officiate a major football game in Nigeria.
Her refereeing career started well back in the early 80s in Kano where she was born and bred.
With an interview with daily trust; She said and I quote "Then we actually didn’t have women playing football but the passion I had for football was so much that I used to travel by night following the Kano State football team anytime we qualified for the challenge Cup finals. The matches were normally played in Lagos because that was the capital of Nigeria. I would travel with the supporters in the night to watch the match and then travel back in the night to Kano. Then I was like how can I really do something better. I felt being a supporter or spectator wouldn’t really give me the desired satisfaction. I enrolled as a referee in training, RIT, in 1981."
In 1991, She was listed as a FIFA referee at the first FIFA Women's World Cup in China.
She officiated the opening ceremony match of the 9th National sports festival in Bauchi.
She was part of the officials at the 1991 All Africa Games, 1991 in Cairo.
Jamila is the first female Match Commissioner in Nigeria, she commissioned the match in an international friendly between Nigeria Super Falcons and Banyana Banyana of South Africa in Lagos.
Jamila did not officiate any FIFA organised match as a center referee because there was no women football in All Africa Games and in the Olympics as it is today during her time.
In her story, she reported how she was slapped by one of the players who questioned why a woman should be refereeing a men's football match at the Kano Township Stadium in Sabon Gari.
She was also the first female board member of the Nigeria Football Federation NFA now NFF.
She officiated for 13 years before she retired.
