Bound to television by failure

Reality can be as cruel as the worst nightmare, leaving foreboding overhang that haunts you for an indeterminate period. One would always wish at this time to go back to sleep and wake up to a new world, the real truth. Reality. But it has been written in the sands as an incurable memorial in the annals of history.

Reality hit me very strongly recently when Curacao qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, holding in three nations – America, Canada and Mexico. Take note, it wasn’t the day Nigeria lost the opportunity to DR Congo in the playoffs. But when Curacao qualified!

I saw the excitement on the faces of the citizens of this small nation on television and realized that, once again, we have missed the opportunity to raise our flag in the gathering of the footballing nations of the world. We are not going to see our footballers put on the Nigerian colours to demonstrate to the world one area where we have remained strong and dazzled the world even in the face of difficulties.

Nigerians will not be able to see the dazzling and energetic runs of Victor Osimhen with his distinguishing face mask trademark, and his daring and clinical finishing. They will not see the dribbling wizardry of Ademola Lookman. The best in the footballing world have gathered; the best of our nation are not there and would forever miss the opportunity to share some farewell moments with Ronaldo and Messi – two football greats who may be featuring at the World Cup for the last time.

The honour belongs to some other nations in Africa, which include: Senegal, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Cape Verde and Ghana. Others are: Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and South Africa. Nine teams. And DR Congo might just sneak in through the corners the way Nigeria wanted to.

Look at this again. Nigeria, which is one of the biggest soccer nations in the continent, will not be at the World Cup. The year that participating teams have been increased to 48 with a record 9 coming from Africa, Nigeria is missing in action (MIA), joining the minnows in the déjà vu of a has-been. We seem to have accepted our faith as a self-proclaimed giant that has failed miserably.

What makes it more hurtful is that those who manage our football, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), do not understand the magnitude of failure they have visited on the nation. They have simply moved on. Just as previous failures did not attract any reprimand, this too may just pass, in a land where failure attracts no opprobrium or even an infinitesimal rebuke.

I will try to sketch the limit of the shame that will reduce Nigerians to watching other nations on television during the World Cup. Let me start with Curacao.

AI says “Curacao is an island nation in the Southern Caribbean Sea, located off the coast of Venezuela.’’ While the World Population Review credits Curacao with a population of 185,000, the nation’s Central Bureau of Statistics puts the population at 156,115. Whichever figure you choose, it’s just over forty thousand shy of Gwarinpa in Abuja which has an estimated population of 200,000, but not up to half of the population of Festac Town in Lagos State with an estimated population of 370,205.

Yet Curacao is a country which has qualified for the World Cup while the most populous black nation in the world couldn’t. Let’s come closer home as we look at Cape Verde qualifying from Africa.

This island nation with a population of between 556,000 and 581,000, is located in the central Atlantic Ocean, some 570km west of the coast of Senegal in West Africa. This is slightly above half the population of Nasarawa Local Government Area, the largest LGA in Kano State which is estimated at 990,800. For easy clarification, let’s say Cape Verde is the equivalent of a local government area in Nigeria. This country has made history as it heads to the World Cup. We shall be watching them on television!

Is it by population alone, you may want to ask? After all, Qatar which has a population of between 3.12million and 3.17million (just slightly above the population of Taraba State with an estimated population of 3.6million) hosted the last FIFA World Cup and built stadia with cooling systems. It’s all about planning, my friend, visioning and strategic reasoning.

The World Cup is the biggest stage for every footballer and those who want to be recorded in the history books would always fight to be there, overcoming obstacles and oppositions. I have seen people blame our players for not contributing their best, for arguing about money at a most critical time. But these same people are not hard on the bumbling NFF which failed to pay the players their allowances, the shameless organization that recruited four different coaches for a single World Cup qualifiers – Jose Peseiro, Augustine Eguavoen, Finidi George and now Eric Chelle Chelle to exemplify instability and a defocused agency that has brought shame to all. What performance can instability breed?

People have been talking about money and sundry opportunities that are lost. For qualifying at all which is a license to play at the group stage, a country pockets $9m for preparations and participation. Imagine what $9m can do for Curacao!

For me the money is the very small part of it. What of visibility, image making and marketing for the country? Do you remember the iconic TV shot of Rashidi Yekini scoring the first goal for Nigeria at USA 94? How much do you ever pay for that shot? It is about the flag, it is about the colours, it is about bravura and every opportunity for the nation to proclaim its importance at any given time – the TV appearances, radio mentions, social media trail, and just about any opportunity out there for visibility. For instance, people searching for the location of Curacao on the global map.

For both players and NFF, the opportunity for big endorsement is out through the window, marketing deals have evaporated, and so are the fortunes for Nigerian corporates and even individuals who wanted to take advantage of the World Cup to boost businesses and deepen opportunities.

I saw a couple of volunteers for the World Cup 2026 who were even more excited with the prospect of working closely with the Nigerian team and be able to make players and officials comfortable. I watched with suppressed mirth when some Nigerians literally colonized one of the Car Parks of Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, one of the venues for the World Cup, belting out Nigerian Afro Beat hits perhaps as a foretaste of what would come in 2026. I am sure the failure at home has blunted their excitement over there. And so are those who were structuring businesses specifically for the World Cup. They too will be counting their losses on account of the failure of managers and administrators who are responsible only to themselves and not the country.

Painfully, we are going to be watching the World Cup 2026 on television from afar, ruminating over the opportunities that we have lost. From my little experience, Nigerians love the game of football and have very rich emotional history to recall. Heroes like Kanu Nwankwo and Jay Jay Okocha that still stand tall till tomorrow. They pray for an encore which at the moment looks like a mirage.

During the World Cup, we shall be bound to television by failure because of our inability to manage situations, opportunities and talents to achieve results that make people hope for the best. Nigerians pray that failure can be punished and that they can be given the opportunity to occupy their space under the sun and proclaim their humanity and capabilities very strongly.