Nigerian Football — Stuck In the mud of leadership

Segun Odegbami

Today, Nigerian football is beset with very many challenges. That’s why despite the abundance of talent in the country, taking domestic Nigerian football to another level has become seemingly impossible. It has been stuck for almost three decades now in the mud of ignorance.

What is happening is captured aptly in the words of renowned Nigerian writer, Labisi Olagunju, who wrote in his newspaper column last week: “bush is the way – because the blind is the guide”.

Successive football administrators of the past three decades, in particular, did not fully appreciate nor understood the importance of a particular missing puzzle in the jigsaw of Nigerian football. They look everywhere else for answers except in the direction of this most vital of ingredients for football development at the highest levels.

Now, the riddle.
A. It is the single most important item in the list of requirements to complete genuine football development in Nigeria. It is also the cheapest to provide.
B. Without it, Nigerian football, including players and coaches, cannot grow to the highest standards in the world.
C. Without it domestic football can NEVER attract enough public and corporate followership to become big business!
D. Out of ignorance or greed, it is the least considered and most disregarded item in football development conversations.
E. It is the reason why European clubs and national teams turn down invitations to play in Nigeria since the 1990s
F. It is the reason why retiring Nigerian internationals from Europe are not attracted to play in Nigeria’s domestic leagues after they retire.
G. It is the reason why the Super Eagles do not have a permanent home ground, and would always struggle to play well in their own country,