By Jacob Ajom

As you are reading this story, the entire board of the Nigeria Football Federation would have turned in their resignation letters to pave way for a clean start for Nigerian football. The mass resignation of the board followed an advise from the top as Nigeria seeks a new path for her football which has suffered its worst spell since 2018 when the Super Eagles last appeared at the World Cup in Russia.

The team was led to Russia by Franco-German coach, Gernot Rohr but were knocked out in the group stage of the tournament. Rohr’s contract was not renewed after the World Cup. Since his departure in 2021, the Super Eagles have had about 6 different head coach postings or caretaker management changes (including multiple stints by Augustine Eguavoen). Names like Bruno Labbadia and Emanuel Amunike also came up for mention at some point but never resumed. The Super Eagles have failed to qualify for the World Cup back-to-back(2022 and 2026). 

Apart from the senior national team, Nigeria, with an unparalleled pedigree in age grade football – won gold at the Olympics in 1996, 5-time champions of FIFA U17 World Cup, two-time silver medalist in FIFA U20 World Cup and a dominant history in African football – has failed to qualify for any of those tournaments under the Gusau board. The last straw that shattered all hopes in Nigerian football was the dismal outing of the Super Falcons at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, WAFCON. The Nigerian flagbearers started the tournament as defending champions but ended up not qualifying for the 2027 Women’s World Cup. Even when they had a chance of advancing through playoff, the team fell to the Bnyana Banyana of South Africa.

Super Falcons’ failure  failure at WAFCON jolted Nigerians from their slumber. They called for immediate reforms as one key reason for Nigeria’s dwindling fortunes in sports is that of governance and accountability. They mounted pressure on the National Sports Commission to order reforms in the conduct of election into the Nigeria Football Federation, especially, by expanding the elective congress to accommodate key stakeholders by amending the NFF Statutes. The cry of Nigerians got to the federal government which has reacted swiftly with measures aimed at steadying the ship from sinking without fouling  FIFA principles . Authorities reportedly asked the board to consider the honourable thing if they could not account for the huge funds allocated to football to ensure success in the competitions. Gusau, we gathered, was to resign last night.  Nobody forced or compelled them to resign. A plan to appoint an interim management committee was in the pipeline. And the committee may be charged  to carry out the necessary reforms, amend the statutes and organise fresh election for a new NFF.

Before Gusau and his team depart, they have to answer to numerous allegations of misappropriation of funds, including but not limited to the N12 billion Government Intervention Fund released before the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast. President Bola Tinubu had approved a 12 billion naira intervention fund in January 2024 to clear a backlog of unpaid salaries, allowances, and promises owed to various national sports teams, including the Super Eagles, female and Under-20 squads. Yet this neither improved the fortunes of Nigerian football nor eased the frequent embarrassments the country has been subjected to at various international competitions where players often hold the country to ransom with demands for unpaid bonuses and outstanding allowances. 

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have launched probes into the disbursement and utilization of the N12 billion fund following complaints and growing scrutiny over ongoing debts and team performance. Other cash inflows from the Confederation of African Football and FIFA would also be scrutinized by the agencies.