In a country often fragmented by political, religious and cultural differences, sports has remained a powerful tool for social engineering and to promote the image of the country. Indeed, Nigerian sports men and women have, over the years, continued to excel both in the African continent and around the world in competitions like the African Games, the Commonwealth Games, the Olympic Games as well as in various football tournaments.

The year 2024 was a mixed bag of fortunes for Nigeria in different competitions. The first of such competitions was the 2023 African Nations Cup which held in Cote d’Ivoire in January/February, 2024. Though not much was expected from the team, the Super Eagles surprisingly improved with every game and even got to the final where they narrowly lost to the host, Cote d’Ivoire, 2-1. 

In March, Team Nigeria headed to Ghana for the African Games.

Though the country retained her number two position in Africa, she lost in one of her strong areas, the short sprints. Our athletes also went to the Summer Olympics in Paris, France later in the year. This turned out a major disaster as the team failed to win a medal in any event, especially athletics and wrestling, the two sports that produced medals at the 2020 Tokyo Games which held in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The only silver lining for the country in sports last year was Super Eagles player, Ademola Lookman, who was crowned the CAF player of the year.

Stakeholders have adduced various reasons for the unenviable performances of our athletes during the period. Among these are poor preparation caused mainly by poor funding/late release of funds by government, which is a major sponsor of sports in the country, and indiscipline on the part of some of our athletes.

As we look into 2025, the signs do not appear promising. For instance, with the Super Eagles qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup presently hanging precariously in the balance, Nigerians can only but pray fervently for a change in fortune so that we do not suffer a repeat of the pains of missing out from the 2022 edition held in Qatar. Unfortunately, the managers of the game were for a long time in a quandary on how to get a substantive coach, local or foreign, for the Super Eagles next round of qualifiers which begins against Rwanda in Kigali in March. It was not until last Tuesday they belatedly announced the appointment of Eric Chelle as Super Eagles coach.

With this bleak outlook, we join other stakeholders in calling for a change in attitude by both athletes and administrators of our sports if they hope to excel and bring smiles back on the faces of the citizens once again. Government should prioritise the sports sector by providing sufficient funding of programmes and infrastructure for our athletes to succeed.

Against this backdrop, we commend the Federal Government’s idea of setting up a Presidential Support Group, PSG, to drive the ‘Super Eagles Must Qualify’ campaign like was done before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. But the nagging question is: Will the PSG succeed  like its precursor, the Presidential Task Force, PTF, did in 2010? So, the onus is on all those involved in this project to rise to the occasion and ensure that they succeed in this assignment, thereby setting the stage for the country to do better in football, indeed all sports, this year than was the case last year.