CONSIDERING the well-recorded exploits of its leading players across Europe’s top leagues over the past 12 months, Nigeria’s clean sweep of this year’s Confederation of African Football (CAF) annual awards should come as no surprise to any follower of the beautiful game. While the women’s national team, the Super Falcons, emerged the team of the year in the female category, 23-year-old Chiamaka Nnadozie, who plies her trade for French Division 1 Feminine side Paris FC, became the first recipient of the Goalkeeper of the Year award. Any doubts as to the preeminence of the Super Falcons in football on the continent were laid to rest by the emergence of Barcelona FC striker Asisat Oshoala as the CAF Player of the Year, making it the 29-year-old’s sixth time of claiming the award. When the rangy striker eventually hangs up her boots, the continental association could consider naming the award after her. No one deserves the honour more. She will definitely go down in history as one of those who upheld the dignity of African football.
In the men’s category, Napoli striker Victor Osimhen expectedly won the gong, making him the first Nigerian (male) to win the award since Nwankwo Kanu in 1999. The smart money was on Osimhen to win the award following his stellar performances for Italian Serie A side Napoli. In a record-breaking year, Osimhen scored 26 goals in 32 games, winning the Serie A Golden Boot in the process, and leading the team to its first Scudetto in 33 years. On a night in which the attention of the football world was riveted by the spectacle at the Palais des Congres in Marrakech, Morocco, the country hardly have had it any better.
We join millions of Nigerians and followers of African football to congratulate the Super Falcons, Asisat Oshoala, and Victor Osimhen. For the Super Falcons, we note with pride that the team seems to have raised its game following the challenge to its supremacy posed by a resurgent South African women’s football team, the Banyana Banyana. It goes without saying that the Falcons cannot afford to rest on their laurels. Similarly, we revel in the observation that Osimhen had a personal determination to rise to the highest levels of excellence, and we commend his doggedness and singularity of focus to young Nigerians in every sphere of endeavour.
That said, while the success of these Nigerians should be celebrated, we cannot ignore the fact that it has come about despite, and not because of, the material situation in the country, the long and short of which is that it has become impossible for any Nigerian player, male or female, playing in the local league, to have any success, let alone be in a position for international recognition. The dire situation in the local league has been much commented on, and continues to worsen due to poor pay, shoddy infrastructure and corruption. The less that is said about the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), the very epitome of institutional decay, the better.
Instructively, it is not only in football that Nigeria is killing dreams and hemorrhaging talent. What obtains in the little corner of Nigeria’s social life called football, or even sports more generally, is amplified in Nigeria’s universities, hospitals, bureaucracies, and so on. The stupendous success of these exceptional Nigerians should be embraced as an opportunity to reflect on what has gone wrong, and what remedial measures are required.
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