Against the backdrop of the fact that in four days’ time, 2024 will roll into oblivion, it is not a misnomer to ask if it would be a year to be remembered for the wrong reasons or one to clink the glasses? Whichever divide one belongs to, a review of the course of events in the year will either make it to be a year to be remembered for the wrong reasons, or for the right reasons.
Without mincing words, the government is the only stakeholder that will view the year as one filled with achievement worthy of celebration. Other stakeholders considering the abundant talents in the country will sneer at the country’s performance based on the fact that much of the potentials banked on were left to be desired.
However, from football to boxing, Paralympics, weightlifting, wrestling and basketball, among other genres of sports, Nigeria recorded some feats worthy of celebration, just like there were failures to warrant a sober reflection on the best way forward.
The year kicked off with the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Cote d’ Ivoire with the Super Eagles qualifying for the final against all expectation, only to lose to the host team in the final 2-1. It was a performance that rekindled hope of Nigerians in the team against the backdrop of the team’s unimpressive 2026 World Cup qualifying series where it played two games before the tournament drawing the two games against teams regarded as minnows in African football.
After the AFCON palaver in which Coach Jose Passeiro resigned as Super Eagles’ coach against all expectations, Finidi George was named as his replacement by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), though the federation was constrained to name him because it seemed minded to hire a foreigner. This suspicion was evidently deepened as he resigned just a few months after reluctantly accepting the offer. Worthy to be recalled in this context is that he resigned not for losing 2-1 to Benin Republic in the team’s match-day four 2026 World Cup qualifier, but because the NFF has concluded plans to get a foreign coach as replacement. George’s failure to have control of his dressing room worsened his case as his open altercation with Victor Osimhen did him more harm than good.
Lookman
German Bruno Labbadia, named by NFF as George’s replacement after his resignation turned down the offer on the premise that issues regarding the contract with the NFF were yet to be firmed out before the NFF announced him as coach of the Super Eagles. This was a huge embarrassment not only to the NFF but to the country. The import of this embarrassment is that the NFF trust deficit is the reason for Labbadia turning down the offer.
Austin Eguavoen, who is the federation’s head of technical department, was asked to supervise the team’s AFCON qualifiers, qualifying for the AFCON with a game to spare as group winner. He won four, drew one and lost the last game on home soil to Rwanda. With Super Eagles 2026 World Cup preparation in tatters, and with the qualifiers resuming in March, we are waiting for the NFF’s foreign coach that will manage the Super Eagles.
The Paris Olympics was the next big event that the country participated in. It was a harvest of failure for the country, as it did not win a single medal. Athletics Federation of Nigeria’s failure to register Favour Ofili for the Games 100m women’s event for no justifiable reason was a manifestation of the mediocrity in the administration of sports in the country when she qualified for the event. Ofili’s saga just signposted track and field performance as the country’s hope of winning any medal, Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume crashed like pack of cards. Wrestling, weightlifting did not fear better. Aruna Quadri did well in table tennis failing to even reach the quarterfinal, his best performance at the Rio Olympics.
It was only the women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, reaching the quarterfinal, becoming the first African team, man or women, to achieve such a feat at the Games.
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The country’s CAF inter-club performance has continued to nosedive. Three of the four clubs the country registered for the CAF Champions League and CAF Cup crashed out at the first hurdle, leaving only Enyimba to carry the country’s flag. As it is, the chance of the team reaching the quarterfinal is on knife-edge, having placed last in their group.
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria still reeling in the Ofili saga is also enmeshed in another, N40 million Premium Bank sponsorship fee. As it is the EFFC is investigating the alleged misappropriation of the fund.
Nigeria made a huge stride in the continent’s sports politics as Enitan Oshodi was elected unopposed as president of the Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) in October. He became the second Nigeria to achieve the feat of heading the ATTF. The first was Engr. Segun George.
Also in October, clamour for the return of the National Sports Commission (NSC), yielded fruit on Wednesday, October 23, when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu scrapped the Federal Ministry of Sports Development in a cabinet shakeup.
He immediately appointed a substantive chairman in the person of Mallam Shehu Dikko with Bukola Olopade named as Director General. The return of the Commission which first came into existence in 1962, as the National Sports Council is said to have come at a time that sports in Nigeria is in dire need of policies that would reinvigorate the sector.
In most developed countries where sport is serious business, technocrats for optimal results on the field and for revenue generation manage the sector. The government classifying sport as a business concern and not as a recreational activity is believed to be responsible for this policy reversal.
Crowning Ademola Looman earlier in the month as the CAF Men’s Player of the Year after a sensational 12 months with Italian side Atalanta and the Nigeria’s Super Eagles follows in the footsteps of compatriot Victor Osimhen, who claimed the award in 2023.
“When the stars align, they spell Ademola Lookman. Ladies and gentlemen, your Men’s Player of the Year!” CAF said on X.
Lookman scored a hat trick in the 2023/24 Europa League final to secure the Serie A club’s first-ever European trophy and only the second major title in its 117-year history.
The 27-year-old striker produced 17 goals and 10 assists in 45 games across all competitions for Atalanta in the 2023-24 season. Winning the CAF award was not a coincidence as he was listed 14th in the Balon d’Or Ranking. Whichever way it is considered, Lookman’s winning the CAF player of the year award, was the icing on the cake in Nigerian sports.
