Re-Inventing Nigeria’s Football

The failure of the National team, the
Super Eagles to fly in recent cham
pionships have not only continued to bother many Nigerians, but has raised the need for concrete plans to take football in Nigeria back on track.
Although  the junior teams and the female squad have continued to post great results, the fear is already being expressed that if their glory days are not properly managed and sustained they may go the way of the Super Eagles.
Unfortunately, Nigeria no longer has a sustaining process of discovering and developing talents through grassroots programmes such as greater tomorrow and secondary school competitions, age-grade competitions and youth academies.
The declining fortunes of football in Nigeria has been made plain by the failure of Nigerians to win the best player award since after Kanu Nwankwo won it in 1999. Sadly, the Super Eagles will not also be in action at the current African Nations Cup competition.
As everybody sees the decline, the management of football in Nigeria has not fared better either. For a nation that was once ranked 5th best footballing nation to become a weeping team is not acceptable. Instead of taking steps at reversing the trend, the Football House go from one crisis to another.
We find it rather disturbing that Nigeria is hardly out of the contention on who leads the Nigeria Football Federation. Sadly also, the issue of appointing a Coach has become another drama. That the issue of appointing a foreign coach or not constitutes a clog is a shame.
In the midst of this confusion even the few talents in the Nigerian league are leaving the country in droves, some to other sister African countries. This is a shame and must be reversed.
While we think that Nigerians must not expect to win always, the authorities must not fore-close the appointment of a foreign coach nor the age-old practice of grooming young talents as a deliberate programme for replacing tired legs or depending on foreign-based players.
Efforts should also be geared towards mobilising coaches recently sent abroad by the present NFF under Amaju Pinnick with the assistance of internationals to come up with coaching curriculum that can encourage local youth football to return Nigeria to her football glory.
We think that both the government and the football authorities in Nigeria must re-double efforts at changing the trend as football has become an instrument of business, diplomacy and entertainment.
Government should make a concerted effort to formulate policy that will see the systematic unbundling of the NFF to make it a private entity and separate it from undue political and governmental control. In fact, Nigeria must adopt FIFA rules if football must become an industry that can also contribute to the economy.
It is when the needed attention is paid to how football works in other parts of the world that even the gains in youth and female soccer can be sustained or improved upon. In fact, professionalism must be encouraged for industry actors to be focused. The idea of gathering players barely months to a major competition to practice has not helped Nigeria.
The Tide is not un-aware of the myriad of problems facing football in Nigeria. Some avoidable local influences, unsafe stadia, a must win attitude that compels referees to compromise among others can be real, but government must help to provide the structure on which the people in the business can function as expected.