We applaud the National Sports Commission for putting a stop to the Nigeria Football Federation election scheduled for September. But we must call out the NFF leadership for the comedy they are now staging.
Setting up a “fact-finding mission” to evaluate why the Super Falcons missed the World Cup is the height of deception.
It is a story of a naked man searching for his pocket after he has taken off his clothes. Self-indictment.
The verdict is already very clear. Nigerian football has gone 10 years backwards under this board.
Missed World Cups, stunted youth teams, poor preparation for competitions and a league lacking professional imprints.
This is why we need disruption, not continuity. This is why Nigeria needs a Football Project built on fresh faces and fresh vision.
Fresh vision means a new template, a new standard ,shielding the Super Eagles and Super Falcons from politics. It means giving them the best preparation, not the best excuses. Chartered flights that leave on time. Camps that start early. Kits that arrive before kickoff. It means the U17s and U20s are treated as national assets, not afterthoughts.
Because right now, we are paying the price for treating them as afterthoughts. Under the current NFF, Nigeria failed to qualify for both the Men’s and Women’s FIFA World Cups for the very first time in our history. The green and white teams are missing from football’s biggest stage.
The failure did not end there. We have now failed to qualify for three consecutive FIFA U17 World Cups. Three. This is the tournament where Nigeria became a global brand. Where we produced Kanu, Okocha, Oliseh, Mikel. The pipeline has been blocked and shut down.
The U20s have also collapsed. We missed the U20 AFCON. And because of that, we missed the FIFA U20 World Cup too. No Flying Eagles. No future. When you kill the youth teams, you kill the senior teams 5 years later. It’s simple math.
Even the Super Falcons, Africa’s most decorated women’s team, suffered their worst-ever WAFCON performance under this board. Failing to qualify for the World Cup for the very first time. What looked like a birthright has been taken away. A dynasty is crumbling, and nobody in leadership is taking responsibility.
This is not bad luck. This is a pattern. A pattern of poor planning, last-minute appointments, unpaid allowances, abandoned projects, and press releases instead of progress. Results have consequences everywhere else. In Nigeria, failure gets you a second term campaign.
And that is what makes this moment dangerous. While Nigerian teams are absent from global tournaments, some spin doctors and hired pen pushers are quietly campaigning for the current NFF president to get another term. The audacity. The shamelessness. The absolute lack of accountability.
What are we rewarding exactly? Missed qualifications? A broken youth system? A federation constantly in crisis? The only KPI being met is how to survive in office, not how to deliver for Nigeria.
Football is not rocket science. Countries with far less talent than us are qualifying, developing players, and selling them to Europe for millions. Why? Because they have structure. Because they have vision. Because leaders are judged by results, not by who they know.
Nigeria deserves a better administrative structure at the national level. The boys in Benin City and Katsina training barefoot deserve better. The girl in Warri playing on a concrete pitch deserves better. The millions who wear the jersey every weekend deserve better. Sponsors who want to invest deserve a federation they can trust.
What we need now is disruption. We need a Nigeria Football Project built on fresh faces and fresh vision.
Fresh faces means technocrats, ex footballers who have developed themselves not career politicians. People who have run clubs, built academies, sold players, negotiated TV rights, and understand data and sports science. People who see NFF as a job, not a chieftaincy title or a stepping stone to higher political offices.
Fresh faces also means term limits, performance reviews, and consequences. If you don’t qualify, you explain. If you don’t develop youth, you go. No more recycling the same names because “it’s our turn.” Smaller countries with better organizational structures are playing bigger tournaments. We can’t be at the push and start levels.
Fresh vision means a 10-year plan, not a 10-month firefighting plan. Fix the grassroots first. Fund the NWFL and NNL properly so players don’t have to run away from Nigeria to survive. Build regional academies tied to schools. And State FA Chairmen should be given responsibilities to organize yearly youth leagues which will produce talents springing up at all levels.
Fresh vision means merit-based appointments. Hire coaches because they can coach, not because they have godfathers. Scout players because they are good, not because their agent is connected. Run leagues because they are profitable, not because FIFA is watching.
Fresh vision also means infrastructure with a plan. Not only one good stadium in Uyo and prayers everywhere else. It means proper pitches, medical teams, and welfare for all national teams, men and women, seniors and youth.
We have the talent. Africa knows it. Europe knows it. Our problem has never been players. Our problem has always been leadership that cannot organize talent into results. Los Angeles Olympics is just 2 years away and we can’t afford to watch from the television while other African countries represent us.
To everyone lobbying for the status quo: show us the trophies. Show us the qualifications. Show us the youth development. Show us the transparency. If you have nothing to show, then step aside. Nigerian football cannot afford another 4 years of excuses.
The new Nigeria Football Project must start now. Fresh faces. Fresh vision. And a total commitment to restore hope. The green and white jersey has carried our pride for 60 years. It deserves leaders who will fight to make us proud of it again.
_E kaabo si asiko titun. Welcome to a new season.
