(predominantly a U23 team with ten senior players, playing in the Malaysia Super League) In 2015, Nawas was appointed the assistant coach of Tampines Rovers and the head coach for the Tampines Rovers U21 Reserve team who emerged as champions in the Reserve League.
Nawas was then called up for training with the National "A" team for the Dunhill Cup after his stint with Marine Castle United.
Nawas' expertise is the attacking approach in football; this helped Tampines Rovers team to dominate possession in almost every game during his term as head coach and reduced the gap of seven points to only one point, guiding the team from fourth place to second place in the Singapore League.
He led the club to a quarterfinal finish at the 2016 AFC Cup and was knocked out of the competition by eventual runners-up Bengaluru.
[5] Global Cebu made history as the first Philippines football club to reach the finals of the 2017 Singapore Cup in which they draw 2–2 but lost on penalties shoot out.
Nawas, who was the former technical consultant of the club, takes over as the head coach from V.Soundararajan after the team had finished a disappointing eighth position in the 2017–18 I-League.
On 22 October 2021, Akbar was announced as the head coach of Balestier Khalsa,[9] succeeding Marko Kraljevic, who left a week prior.
However, less than 1 year into the contract, Akbar would tender his resignation, and join Thai League 2 side Udon Thani,[10] less than a week after a record 6–1 win against Hougang United.
it is understood that Nawas will initially act as the club's technical director, while also serving as a head coach.
Nawas son, Saifullah Akbar is also a professional footballer who is currently playing for Tampines Rovers in the Singapore Premier League.