Soon after the draws for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia were made, Argentina’s legendary defender, Javier Mascherano was asked for his opinion based on the fact that Argentina and Nigeria were once again pitched in the same group.
The ace defender was blunt and brutally honest as he described the Super Eagles as a ‘disorganized’ side. Mascherano said “Nigeria has a way of making other teams play to their style. They are tough, not just because of their physical power, but because their disorganization has the effect of disorganising you as a rival. And that’s when teams like ours suffer the most-in disorder.”
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It sounded so funny but he honest assessment of the national team of Nigeria aptly captured our way of doing things especially when it comes to the management of human and material resources. We hardly do the right things at the right time.
Oftentimes, the way we prepare for competitions leaves much to be desired. We believe so much in the fire-brigade approach. Lovers of this infamous method like to leave even very important things to wait till the last minute. When it is time to deliver, they run helter-skelter and at such times, mistakes that could have been avoided are easily committed.
Nigerian sports administrators as masters of the fire-brigade approach are known for mishandling even basic things like kits that athletes use during competitions. When talking about rivers, we don’t mention oceans so it is needless to mention the intractable problem of athletes’ bonuses and allowances. Sometimes, it is good to give up on some things in order to save your sanity.
However, what is really baffling is how Nigerian sports administrators are making the mismanagement of athletes’ kits a new normal. It is something so embarrassing yet the perpetrators hardly pause to think about the implications of their ineptitude on the image of the whole country.
It would be recalled that in 1992, Nigerians were shocked to their marrows when they watched the Super Eagles play an AFCON qualifier against the Stallions of Burkina Faso in track suits that were reduced to shorts with scissors.
How did it happen? Preparatory to the match, the national team was camped at Sango Ota. On the day of the encounter which was played at the national stadium in Surulere, Nigerian officials inexplicably left the team’s kits in the hotel. So, to salvage the situation, players’ joggers were cut to look like shorts for them to compete.
In the end, the Super Eagles pummeled Burkina Faso 7-1 on the same day Findi George announced his arrival on the big stage with a goal and three assists but Nigerians talked about the ‘forgotten kits’ for a very long time.
30 years after, Team Nigeria is still suffering from the problem of poor handling of kits. The trend is no doubt disturbing because apart from the psychological blows on the athletes, it also undermines the recent laudable achievements in continental and global competitions.
During the 2022 Tokyo Olympics, Nigerians were embarrassed when a member of Team Nigeria, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, a shot put thrower, posted his video where he was washing the ‘only’ jersey provided him by the Nigerian officials.
He posted on his Tweeter account, claiming that he was given only one jersey for the tournament. Enekwechi who is presently with Team Nigeria in Birmingham wrote “When you made the Olympics finals but you only have one jersey.” The post didn’t do Nigeria’s image any good. Again, it was swept under the carpet as Team Nigeria moved over to the 2022 World Athletics Championship.
In Oregon, Team Nigeria officials didn’t disappoint as they tucked another bitter pill down the throats of millions of Nigerians with another kits mismanagement. Nigeria’s identity was badly stained by a major kits manufacturer, NIKE.
The quartet of Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma, Grace Nwokocha and Joy Udo-Gabriel ran 42.22 seconds in the 4x100m relay to break the 30-year old African record of 42.39 seconds set by their compatriots Christ y Opara-Thompson, Beatrice Otondu, Faith Idehen and Mary Onyali-Omagbemi at Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
However, while Nigerian were celebrating the historic feats by Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume as well as the record breaking performance of the 4x100m ladies, their eyes saw something that was quite strange. It was the vest worn by one of the heroines in the 4x100m record breaking quartet.
It was Favour Ofili’s jersey. The name on her vest was showing NIGERA instead of NIGERIA. As usual, Nigerians expressed disappointment as they immediately took to Tweeter to castigate the Nigerian officials who had failed to ensure the name of Nigeria was spelt correctly. Some people even suspected the vests were produced in Aba. As if to undermine the ingenuity of the people of Aba in Abia State, any product of low quality in Nigeria is commonly referred to as ‘Aba made or made in Aba’.
It was indeed painful that the laudable achievements by Team Nigeria in Oregon were nearly overshadowed by a wrong vest produced by NIKE and approved by Nigerian officials. Indeed, it was a bitter pillow that most Nigerians couldn’t swallow.
Sadly, instead of apologise to aggrieved Nigerians, the Secretary General of Athletics Federation, Adisa Beyioku, issued a press statement reprimanding everyone. He wrote and I quote “It is really disheartening to know that a few Nigerians could shift their focus from the incredible feats our athletes performed in Oregon which attracted commendation from the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to a factory error made by giant Sportswear and equipment company, NIKE and which affected just the vest Ofili wore at the Championship.”
Beyioku’s reaction was indeed typical of Nigerian leaders who hate to be held accountable for their misdeeds. So, just because we had recorded ‘incredible feats’, he wanted Nigerians to hail the AFN and NIKE for ‘murdering’ the name of the ‘giant’ of Africa.
And even at the ongoing Commonwealth Games, officials of the Ministry of Sports had a tough time trying to explain to the world that Team Nigeria had arrived England with their kits intact. It was alleged that in another fire-brigade approach, Nigerian officials had approached a kits manufacturing company near Birmingham to produce wears for Team Nigeria athletes.
The most unfortunate thing is that anytime such embarrassing and shameful offences are committed, no punitive measure is taken against the perpetrators. This no doubt, encourages others to continue to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors.
In view of this, it is no longer if but when next Team Nigeria officials will stage another show of shame with their shabby handling of affairs of the national teams.
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