When the story of the Super Eagles and Golden Eaglets’ success at the continental and global stage is being written, a chapter will definitely be devoted to the contributions of the Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission, NSC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi.

Since Mallam Abdullahi was named the head of sports in December 2011, our football has not only known peace, we have won laurels, and other sports have also benefited from Abdullah’s leadership which has led to success on and off the field.

Ironically, if the great seer Nostradamus had predicted today’s success when President Goodluck Jonathan named Abdullahi Sports Minister less than two years ago, many would have called the seer a prophet of doom.

At the time Abdullahi was named head of sports, our football, indeed sports generally, was in turmoil. Our senior football team, the Super Eagles, had just failed to qualify for  the African Nations Cup championship, the qualification which we normally regard as mere formality. We were edged out of the Equatorial Guinea/Gabon 2012 Championship by Guinea in front of the home crowd in Calabar.

Off the field, the football family did not know peace either. There were series of litigations in court in Lagos and Abuja instituted by members of the football family.

Our football league was in a terrible state, with court cases between sponsors and would-be sponsors, marketing companies, crisis over television right contract, crisis among members of the league board, the secretariat staff- one could go and on listing the crisis that had engulfed our football then.

For a minister who also had to run the Federal Ministry of Youth in addition to the many problems that bedeviled sports, Abdullahi was not deterred; rather he saw the problems as challenges to overcome.

Convinced that success can only be attained in a peaceful atmosphere, Abdullahi travelled to all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, preaching the message of peace. The search for peace in Nigeria’s football took the Minister as far as Zurich, Switzerland where he met with President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter. He also sat long hours on the round table with all shades of aggrieved persons in search of peace.

Before anybody could say Jack, harmony returned to the hitherto troubled football house. All parties, one after the other sheathed their swords, cases were withdrawn from court and former enemies sat down to work together for the first time in a long time.

The peaceful atmosphere enabled the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, to plan for success on the field. The first task was qualification for the South Africa 2013 Africa Nations Cup. From a team that failed to qualify less than a year ago, the Super Eagles qualified for the South Africa 2013 in style, beating Liberia 6-1, our best win ever.

Abdullahi ensured that money was not an obstacle to the Eagles’ success in South Africa as he made provision for successful camping in Faro, Portugal. While the Eagles were in Portugal, Abdullahi visited our boys, and when the championship started in South Africa, Abdullahi was with our boys all the way to witness their success at the Rainbow Nation.

With the ghost of our failure to qualify for the Germany 2006 still haunting us despite the fact that we qualified for the South Africa 2010 edition, the Minister gave the Eagles all the support they needed to qualify for the group stage of the Brazil 2014 World Cup, topping their group. He also gave the NFF all the assistance they need to ensure that we qualified for CHAN, the home based nations cup slated for January 2014 in South Africa for the first time.

To ensure success in the knockout stage of the Brazil 2014 World Cup, Abdullahi presented the NFF and the Super Eagles with all the support they need. They have successfully won the first leg with a 1-2 defeat of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, a win for the Eagles in Calabar this weekend will land the Eagles in Brazil.

The Eagles are not the only beneficiary of Abdullahi’s reforms that led to the revitalization of our football, the new world champion, the Golden Eaglets’ success in the United Arab Emirate would not have been possible without the turnaround that our football administration and management has witnessed in the last few months. The Minister gave the Eaglets the same level of support and assistance he gave the Eagles. Without his support, it is doubtful if we would be celebrating today.

The national football teams are not the only beneficiaries, Abdullah’s planning and vision has led to a new era in our football league.

Before now, our league was nothing to write home about with no finish date, terrible officiating, crowd violence, allocations of points in the board room as the order of the day.

But Abdullah worked tirelessly to set up the League Management Company, which has now taken our football league out of the woods. Now, we have a start and finish date, the sponsorship crisis has been resolved, the television right has not only been resolved, there is now more money on the table to be shared by the clubs.

Unlike some of his predecessors, Abdullahi is not just a football minister, but a minister for all the sports, no wonder other sports like athletics, basketball, and others have recorded success under his tenure.

Abdullahi is the first Sports Minister to follow the nation athletics team to the IAAF World Championship and it is not a surprise that they broke the 14 years jinx of no podium appearance at the Moscow 2013 Championship winning Silver and a Bronze medal.

Team Nigeria’s track team is the current African Champion at senior, youth and junior levels. Abdullahi was with the team in Porto Novo and Warri where they won the senior and junior crown.

Abdullahi is one minister that has been implementing President Jonathan’s transformation agenda to the fullest and the success story is there for all to see.

Mr Kayode Aliu, an active football fan, wrote from Abuja