CHAN success shows Africa can do without Nigeria

ONE of the funniest claims Nigerians love to make is than no event in Africa is complete without their country being involved.

It is a myth many Nigerians are willing to die by despite mountains of evidence against it. Of course Nigeria is extremely important to Africa and its big events, but if the ‘giant’ cannot find its way to the venue of the event, the show will go on.

The latest evidence of that is the African Nations Championship (CHAN) that will end in Cameroon on Sunday with Mali and Morocco playing in the final.

Without the home-based Super Eagles, the tournament has been fun, colourful, highly competitive and totally successful. The only people missing Nigeria in Cameroon at the moment are Nigerians at home and the thousands that live, work and run a vast automobile spare parts market in downtown Yaounde that reminds you of Ladipo in Lagos.

Apart from those ones and some of us left with nostalgic feelings about Nigeria’s run into the CHAN final in Morocco in 2018, nobody else is bothered.

It is simple, you have to earn your place at the major tournaments. Your pedigree alone is not enough to get you there.

What the ongoing CHAN has demonstrated is that Nigeria should take qualifiers more seriously. Sometimes the country’s football federation, the team, the coaches and the players feel all they need do is show up and the matches are automatically won.

But of course they all know that it takes unrelenting hard work, talent, proper organisation and real commitment to consistently reach the highest levels.

For a country of Nigeria’s size, reputation and pedigree, there has not been enough consistency in reaching and succeeding at major competitions in recent years.

The Super Eagles missed three of the last five Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, both the men’s and women’s football teams failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, and the country has missed several age-group competitions, the ones Nigeria used to dominate even globally.

At club level, Nigeria’s last success in African competition was in 2004, a whole 17 years ago. Some kids born back when Enyimba won that second consecutive CAF Champions League title are in either at university or playing professional football.

This season, of the four Nigerian clubs that began the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup only two have advanced to within a round of the group stage of the less prestigious competition. Even then, Enyimba are still in the Confederation Cup because they got eliminated from the elite Champions League and had to drop down.

Incidentally, only one of Enyimba and the other Nigerian club left in the competition, Rivers United, will reach the group phase, as they have been drawn to face each other in the playoffs.

The message is clear to Nigeria: get your football in order or you will continue to dine away from the big table.

Thankfully, there is a semblance of restored order in the country’s domestic club football. The Nigeria Professional Football League, the country’s top flight, is back from a long COVID-19 enforced break and waxing strong. It is back on television for the first time in about four years and the abundant talent in the league is now back on full display.

Even without spectators, in compliance with coronavirus guidelines, the league has been running smoothly for several weeks and generating significant online engagement.

The League Management Company, the body running the NPFL, is also beginning to stand firm in ensuring compliance with pitch standards and disciplinary issues as it seeks to make the league one of Africa’s best.

For Nigeria to return to CHAN, which is a tournament for players based in their own countries, the NPFL and the second-tier Nigeria National League need to be consistently at a level in which they can regularly produce players for the national team.

Africa will, without a backward glance, leave Nigeria behind if the country is not ready to move forward. When the leagues in the whole of North Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Sudan and other countries are better organised than yours and have better facilities, you know you have to step up.

It is a good thing that the LMC is back on track, and the appointment of former Nigeria striker and proven administrator Davidson Owumi as the Chief Executive Officer suggests that the league is likely to continue on an upward trajectory.

If the NPFL continues to improve, it is only a matter of time before Nigeria returns to CHAN and even win the title.

But if Nigeria lags behind and misses the competition again, the show will go on.

Just like the 2012, 2015 and 2017 AFCONs went on successfully without the Super Eagles and the age-group AFCONs have been held despite Nigeria’s absence.

The Super Eagles look on course to qualify for the 2022 AFCON in Cameroon despite the dropped points to Sierra Leone. However, if they continue to offer embarrassing performances like the one in Benin City in November when they blew a 4-0 lead and somehow miss the next competition, Africa would not stop functioning; the continent would carry on without its ‘giant’.

To get to these championships, you have to earn your place. Nobody owes any country other than the host an automatic spot.