Let CAF awards restore Nigeria’s lost football glory

The excitement that greeted the awards of best African footballers to Nigeria on four fronts was appropriately directed. For one reason, it has been 24 years since Kanu Nwankwo got the best footballer award, despite an impressive array of Nigerian soccer stars playing their games and making waves across the globe. For another reason, the chosen four of Victor Osimhen, Asisat Oshoala, Chiamaka Nnadozie and the women national team, the Super Falcons, have always impressed Nigerians, and indeed, for the individuals, their clubs in Europe as highly talented and highly committed to giving their best in the leather game.

The four were in Marrakech, Morocco, declared the best among Africa’s football stars for the Year 2022/23.  While the excitement lasts, football authorities need to be reminded that Nigeria has been consistently performing below-par at competitive stages continentally and globally. Given the raw talents that abound in the country, this situation is unacceptable and shows clearly that so much is wrong with the country’s soccer. It is time, therefore, to critically examine what is wrong and to seek to correct them.

Nigeria has posted more negative than good results since the national team’s failure to qualify for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. And it is wobbling patently for the next World Cup (2026) qualification having settled for two 1-1 draws in two qualifying matches with low-rated Lesotho and Zimbabwe, leaving the country in a delicate position in her group.

The puzzle, however, remains why the country is perpetually struggling in competitions, quite unlike the Nigeria of the 90s, described as the Golden era of Nigerian football.  The period from 1994 to 1998 was a time when everything Nigerian football turned to gold. That was when the Super Eagles won their first African Cup of Nations outside the country and also became the first non-European or South American nations to win the Olympics gold medal in football. Nigeria was so blessed with talents and a beautiful brand of football that no less an organisation than the world football governing body named the Super Eagles the fifth best team in the world, aside the accolade as the most entertaining team of the time.

Very sadly since then, the country’s football fortune nosedived such that the Super Eagles find it difficult most times to deliver otherwise routine assignments like qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations or making it to the World Cup finals. Reasons for this state vary, ranging from political instability, social disequilibrium, failure to tap talents from the local sources, which were the platforms from which great names like Segun Odegbami, Emmanuel Okala, Rashidi Yekini, Emmanuel Amunike, Sunday Olise, Austin Jay Jay Okocha and of course Nwankwo Kanu among others emerged; over-reliance on overseas based Nigerian footballers and often bad politics in the administration of football.

Incidentally, the three current awardees were also discovered and nurtured locally. Although many coaches employed by Nigeria to manage her national teams have been suspect in terms of their pedigree and suitability for the teams, it has also been argued that under the epileptic circumstances and harsh environment of the country, even a highly rated coach in the world will find it difficult to post positive results for the team. Indeed, it is on record that for reasons that are not far-fetched, many such coaches declined the possibility or offers of coaching the Nigerian team.

But Nigeria can rise again in Africa and world football. To this effect, the admonition of Adegboye Onigbinde, former Super Eagles manager is instructive.  He said Nigeria should stop the lazy attitude of relying on players nurtured outside the country for its national teams, pointing out that Osimhen, Oshoala and Nnadozie were discovered and nurtured to stardom from the grassroots. According to Onigbinde, there are more Osimhens and Oshoalas in every part of the country waiting to be discovered and given the opportunity to bloom. Onigbinde believes that football stakeholders should draw out a programme to discover more talents. “It is not all about winning the CAF Awards but working out ways to keep sustaining the greatness of Nigerian football by discovering more talents from the country. This can only be done through a well-organised and coordinated football development programme,” he said.

Similarly, Super Eagles former captain, Austin Jay-Jay Okocha, says Osimhen’s victory at the CAF awards is a testament to the innate talent in many Nigerian children, adding, however, that such talents can only become great stars if those managing the game allow knowledgeable individuals to contribute to the development of the game.

It is true that over the years Nigeria has somehow let go of the many schemes through which raw talents in football and other sports were discovered. There used to be inter-schools competitions, otherwise known as ‘Academicals’, from where talented footballers were discovered, with some of them being nurtured directly to state football outfits and even to the national team. There is urgent need to resuscitate this and similar other programmes, including inter-states football competition through the national sports festivals.

The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) should be concerned that the country is losing out from the huge economic benefits provided all over the world by football administration and competitions. Yet, there was a time when such schemes boomed, and Nigerian stadia were always full to the brim in ways presently showcased in football matches in Europe and the Americas, particularly Latin America.

Conscious efforts should be made to ensure that the awards help to boost the morale of Nigerian football teams in all categories; and in particular to translate into impressive outings in the continental competition next year, as well as in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, despite the very shaky start to the campaign.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the country’s number one citizen, needs to give adequate attention and encouragement to football development directly and otherwise. For a start, the president must bring back security, social order and good governance to the country. This will no doubt encourage players, coaches, and administrators from everywhere in the world to participate in making Nigeria a leading country in African and global football.