2024 is about to drop into the archives of history. The year has had some significant moments and developments that provide a good indication of things to come in the New Year.
On the eve of 2025, from my observatory high up in the hills of Wasimi, I can testify that life has been manifesting in accordance to the unchangeable Universal law of action and reaction (not reward and punishment), reaping as one sows. Nigeria reaped only as much as the country sowed in sports.
In 2024, I took my time to observe the country a little bit closer than usual, even if my view is rather narrow looking at everything through the microscopic lens of sports. I saw politics, religion, governance, diplomacy, education, culture, youth matters, health, leisure, sport, etc. all intertwining, creating my greatest and clearest awareness of the inter connectivity of life as one seamless experience ‘divided’ in ‘compartments’ by humanity only for the convenience of better understanding of the complex, perpetual ‘machine’ of existence.
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So, looking through that prism, how did Nigeria fare in sports in 2024? A few specific events tell the rest of the story.
AFCON 2023 and Nigerian football
The year started on an uncertain note. Nigeria’s biggest international brand, the Super Eagles, were at the lowest ebb of their confidence with poor performances and results throughout 2023 as a depressant. Against all expectations, come AFCON 2023 (played in 2024), they surprised even themselves, treating the entire country to some good performances that took the team, deservedly, all the way to the finals in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.
The team could have won the most coveted trophy in African football at the start of the year but for one or two unfortunate moments during the final match that changed the tide in favour of the more determined and luckier Ivoriens.
Worthy of note is that Nigeria still produced Africa’s Best Player of 2023 after a very long time in the doldrums of African football greats. Victor Osimhen’s rise as the biggest star of AFCON 2023 must have been a watershed for Nigerian players. Although, the pressure of expectation mounted by the public must have weighed him down, he still treated the fans to a few isolated moments of brilliance. Unfortunately, he did not leave the championship with a single moment of a truly outstanding performance throughout the championship. His smoke had no fire!
Yet, the championship birthed two new Nigeria heroes – ‘Captain Marvel’ William Troost-Ekong and the revelation of the year, Ademola Lookman who shone like a million stars through most of the matches until the final game against home team Cote D’Ivoire where his bright light was dimmed.
For coming second, against the run of all expectations, the Super Eagles were lavishly rewarded by the government of Nigeria with a heroic welcome and rewards unmatched in the country’s football history. Each player received a National Honour, a plot of land, a house in Abuja and an undisclosed financial bonus.
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Since then, until arriving at the eve of the year’s end, the Eagles have oscillated between good and poor performances, with the issue of a permanent coach for the team still unresolved and Nigeria’s chances at the 2026 hanging in the balance.
At the tail end of the year, however, the emergence of Nigeria’s Ademola Lookman as the African Best Player of 2024 underlines Nigeria’s improving profile in Africa, and is an indication of a brighter future for the team into 2025! Until now, the country has not had two different back-to-back winners of that coveted award.
The Olympics Games
Mid-2024, Nigeria went to the Paris Olympic Games with very high expectations of returning with a few medals. After all, the country had in its fold the fastest woman over the 100 meters hurdles in the world (Tobi Amusan) as well as one of the best female long jumpers (Ese Brume). Between both of them, the country assumed a ‘sure-banker’ medal.
When both failed to win any medals, and no other Nigerian athlete could raise their game and spirit to Olympian heights, the country went into depression and anger set in. It was clear that something had to give for the people to be appeased and the dwindling spirit of Nigerians in sport to be revived.
Towards the end of the year, the federal government changed the guards at the helm of Nigerian sports. The pending matter of the National Sports Commission, NSC, as the preferred structure for Nigeria’s sports development (from previous varied experiences) was dusted. The federal government abolished the Ministry of Sports Development and announced the re-introduction of the National Sports Commission.
Unfortunately, in Nigeria’s sports story, there were two variants of the NSC – one with a sole administrator at the top, and the other with a board of members drawn from critical stakeholders.
One was a failure, and the other, the greatest success story in sports development in Nigeria’s history. It is no rocket science that two heads are better than one, particularly in a field where everyone claims to be an expert and arrogantly insists their way is the only way. The NSC with board of members is what was prescribed and what is needed.
So far, the new NSC is fundamentally a change in name and leadership only. The issue of a commission of board members serving as think-tank and clearing house is still pending! It is foolhardy to expect a different result from a previous failed system, even with new leaders with good credentials driving it.
The Military and Nigerian Sports
The return of the military establishment to national sports consciousness is an interesting development of 2024. The African Military Games, hosted by Nigeria in October 2024 has revived a forgotten tradition where the military played a very significant role in the development of sports in the country.
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Hosting the Games in Abuja also opened up new vistas of possibilities for reviving the national sports facilities in the Federal Capital Territory, reminding everyone of the successful practice of involving the military as bona fide members of the Nigerian sports architecture. The success of the games has become a blueprint for future hosting of major international events, an essential catalyst for development.
In 2025, the relationship between the National Sports Commission and the Military would be interesting to observe.
Other sports and the future
Otherwise, in 2024, with all other sports, there is really nothing huge and transformative to report. The sports federations are still grappling with how to generate funds to run their programmes, how to elect genuine sports leaders, how to work and share responsibilities with government, and so on. These are issues that the board of the new NSC should interrogate and provide answers to in 2025.
In 2025, Nigeria must now start to look beneath the surface of things, at the crux of matters, at the opportunities… and start to think and dream big.
The rest of the world (except Nigerians themselves) knows Nigeria’s potentials as a great force in the world in virtually all fields. The Universe has endowed the country with raw materials waiting to be nurtured and deployed to yield rich harvests.
It will not be easy. It will not be a stroll in the park. Considering the squandered riches and opportunities in the past, it will take passing through the crucible of fire, hard decisions and hard choices, pain and sacrifice, to reset the buttons of proper development and for Nigeria to assume its rightful place again in the world.
It takes looking beneath the surface of things, beneath the current hardships that must be endured, riding on the crest of self-belief, fearless against the tide of external opposition and distractions, and making development from home in Nigeria a priority strategy, for the path to a bright future to be illuminated once again.
Nigeria is heading where no one can claim to have been before. It will be sheer arrogance for anyone in sport to think or claim that theirs is the only way to Nigeria’s future emergence as a global player in sports. Such humility is what is needed from 2025!
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