It was almost as if a black cat had knocked over a salt shaker and broken a mirror with one misplaced prance suggesting decades of bad luck to come. That’s how the shock of Nigeria backing out of hosting the U17 World Cup slated to occur between October 24 November 15 2009 seemed to reverberate not just around the country itself, but around the world - period. From the CAF headquarters in the 6th of October City Egypt, where air conditioned air could not ease sweaty troubled foreheads, to the smoky Speakeasys in South Africa …Africa blinked perplexed and in shock.

And rightfully so.

For the first time ever her usual safety net with the seemingly deep pockets is saying an emphatic NO to being the continents default care taker and has indicated that she would rather earmark the circa $312 million it would take to host the fiesta, towards some of the myriad of domestic problems that continue to plague her - even 4 decades after her independence.

Regardless of who made the call….President Yaradua, the new NFF, the local Politicians or a combination of all - what is clear is that there is a new wind blowing in West Africa most populous nation as it seeks to focus on other things rather than holding her own on the Soccer pitch . Granted while Football will remain both the irreplaceable cement that holds the country together as well as the only sedative that calms the disillusioned masses Nigeria’s move is not just bold and realistic – it is long over due. I say this because Football has long become the tail that wagged the dog in Nigeria.

From Beach ball to the homeless competitions to the never ending phalanx of other FIFA and CAF generated tournaments for both sexes, Nigeria is forever playing in something somewhere. In some cases she ends up sponsoring more teams than some fully industrialized nations and if that is not absurd based on the fact that many people still survive on less that $5 a day, it is down right irresponsible. Add to the fray that preventable set backs with both polio and river blindness have reared their ugly heads within the last decade, then it become down right criminal as one must first live and see to play anything. Regardless of the fact that we are defending Champion or not Nigeria has finally done the right thing.

We will not waste too much time on Nigerian heart or conscience. That would be too easy to prove as we would only need to point to her role in places like the Congo in the 60’s, dismantling Apartheid in the 70’s, peacekeeping in West Africa in the 80’s and 90’s as well as her on going obligations presently in the Middle East, East Africa and Darfur. Nigeria has more than enough of both.

Fact to the matter is that while she has been more than her brother’s keeper she has failed her own family woefully and must now not just back track to repair past wrongs, but push the envelope to prevent future ones. Revamping her hemorrhaging oil economy, kick starting her natural Gas pipeline project , to finding a peaceful resolution in the “South South” must all take precedent to refurbishing 6 stadia and playing host to the world again.

Nigeria simply put has more than enough on her already brimming plate.

While one clearly empathizes with CAF’s predicament, the fact that Nigeria did bail them out when Zimbabwe failed in her own ANC effort provides her with what I consider an instant “get out of jail” card and should not make Nigerians feel too bad. In fact technically speaking while we could all rub it in by mentioning the word “karma” and the heavy handedness with which CAF punished Nigeria’s Football Association in 1996 for the misplaced antics of a dictatorial president; or the fact that we are still waiting collectively as a vexed nation for an apology for the blown PK call that robbed us of our finest hour in Lagos in 2000 – we should not.

Rather as both African and Football fans we must still wish CAF the best. I for one think that if she is still bent on having the games held here in Africa and somehow will persuade FIFA to look past Mexico’s excellent bail out offer; then she should look no further than Franco Phone Africa which sadly has done very little in terms of playing host internally or otherwise.

In West Africa alone we have both Senegal and the Ivory Coast two regional powerhouses with partially existing infrastructure and who have both gone to World Cups recently and whose junior teams have excelled at recent competitions as well. Leave West Africa and move slightly to the left and we have Cameroon and FECAFOOT who have not hosted anything decent in the last 30 years despite being arguably Africa’s most successful team during that same time span. Clearly a combination of 2 or 3 of these options would provide Africa and the world with an equally exotic and alternative venue.

Considering Hayatou’s nationality and mother tongue this should be a relatively easy sell for him and the sooner he starts the better. In the mean time well done Nigeria…..you finally seem to have your priorities right !

Robot  # 1 | 28.10.2008 11:36

It was almost as if a black cat had knocked over a salt shaker and broken a mirror with one misplaced prance suggesting decades of bad luck to come. That’s how the shock of Nigeria backing out of hosting the U17 World Cup slated to occur between October 24 November 15 2009 seemed to reverberate not just around the country itself, but around the world - period. From the CAF headquarters in the 6th of October City Egypt, where air conditioned air could not ease sweaty troubled foreheads, to the smoky Speakeasys in South Africa …Africa blinked perplexed and in shock. And rightfully so. For the first time ever her usual safety net with the seemingly deep pockets is saying an emphatic NO to being the continents default care taker and has indicated that she would rather earmark the circa $32 million it would take to host the fiesta, towards some of the myriad of domestic problems that continue to plague her - even 4 decades after her independence...Read the full article.

SUYA  # 2 | 28.10.2008 13:27

Source chinadaily LAGOS -- World soccer governing body FIFA may go ahead to impose sanctions against Nigeria following the country's unexpected withdrawal from hosting the Under-17 World Cup, according to the report from the Nation newspaper Tuesday. Nigeria committed itself to an international agreement and entered into guarantees with FIFA for the hosting of the Under 17 World Cup. The pact was signed by Nigerian President alongside seven Ministers on the 16th of March, 2007, the report said. A Local Organizing Committee was constituted and funds running into several millions sunk into the development of six stadia across the vast West African country, it said. The Guarantees issued to FIFA on the hosting of the Under 17 World Cup by the Nigerian Government states in part: "valid, binding and enforceable for any and all relevant national, state and local authorities including any and all succeeding governments and or national, state and local government authorities irrespective of any change in the government or of its representative or any changes in the laws and regulations." The Government Declaration signed by Nigeria's former President Olusegun Obasanjo explicitly states that it "shall be governed by the laws of Switzerland. Any dispute concerning the Declaration shall be exclusively resolved by an arbitral tribunal pursuant to the international Arbitration Rules of the Swiss Chambers of Commerce. The seat of the arbitration shall be Zurich." But in what has been described by FIFA sources as a brazen volte-face and a clear breach of the Declaration and Guarantees, Nigeria' s Sports Minister, Abdul Rahman Hassan Gimba, a Barrister at law, in a letter dated October 20, 2008, one year away from the commencement of the World Cup, notified FIFA that Nigeria lacked the capacity to deliver a world class event as it was faced with a myriad of challenges including a deficit National Budget and the crushing effect of the global financial melt down. Gimba's letter reads "Government efforts are now being channelled toward pruning down on expenditure and in the light of challenges confronting Nigeria it regrets is inability to host the Under 17 World Cup as earlier undertaken." Sources say FIFA may consider very stiff sanctions against Nigeria in spite of Gimba's plea "that the cataclysms which now threaten the world economy was not envisaged at the time of the commitment." Close observers of football developments say Nigeria risks a backlash that may constitute a set back to its football development while Nigeria's pull out may send wrong signals that Africa is not ready to host the world in any capacity. This is just absurd. Columbia backed out of hosting the World Cup and nothing happened. Zimbabwe backed out of the ANC 2000 and nothing happened and we finally put the plight of our people first before a mere game and the threats start? What kind of flipping strong arming is this? If they are so bent on Nigeria hosting it how about a $150 million loan from FIFA or CAF ?

Big-K  # 3 | 28.10.2008 15:22

Suya, Good points but the problem is that in football circles, our word is no longer trusted. We arrange friendlies and then pull out at last minute. We promise to host things, we pull out. All the points being marshalled only make sense before we commit. Once we make a commitment, we should stick to it. What if we had won the Commonwealth games?

SUYA  # 4 | 28.10.2008 15:54

Big K This is nothing more than a classic case of indebted servitude in the present tense. Granted while more research should have been done before OBJ put pen to paper nobody could have predicted the fizzling economy that has now left coffers dry. No matter how you look at it $312 or 36 Billion Naira is too steep a price to ask just to keep our so called word. Like I wrote earlier on Columbia and Zimbabwe have both broken theirs in the past and yet their flags still fly in front of the UN. Let CAF or FIFA recognize that these are trying times and give some of $ they made in Ghana and Germany that is supposedly earmarked for development, to Nigeria to help instead of threatening us with a ban. That’s too me reeks to the high heavens. Nonsense. :evil:

Onari  # 5 | 28.10.2008 18:08

If we have an honest and sincere government, to me there is nothing wrong if Nigeria withdraw from the hosting of the Under-17 world cup and face immediate problems and challenges that is bearing hard on the ordinary man and woman in the mainstreet of Nigeria. Honestly, even if Nigeria host it money will be stolen and wasted...I prefer the government use the money to develop our sports from the grass root and give the necesary tools to the youths to excel in the future. There is too many basic things we lack in Nigeria and for me it is common sense to resolve those issues before ever hosting any form of international event. Let charity begin at home...every basic tenets that make a country work is totally lacking. For once I do agree with the governement in withdrawing from the competiton, instead of making a few thieves richer without doing anything positive to our sports.

akuluouno  # 6 | 29.10.2008 03:26

Villagers, I wish to thank Iwedi for his timely article. I only took exceptions to the gargantuan efforts made by the decision makers to pull Nigeria out of another money wasting jamboree set up by mandarins to siphon our commonwealth. The decision should not have been hard to make at all as we all waited with bated breath to see it come to pass. Secondly, I am amazed at this theory that football is the only thread that holds this big nation together. I hope it is not another journalistic hypothesis. If we have come to the point that it is now football that holds us together, then things have really fallen apart:twisted::twisted:

philipikita  # 7 | 29.10.2008 07:42

=akuluouno;283835>Villagers, I wish to thank Iwedi for his timely article. I only took exceptions to the gargantuan efforts made by the decision makers to pull Nigeria out of another money wasting jamboree set up by mandarins to siphon our commonwealth. The decision should not have been hard to make at all as we all waited with bated breath to see it come to pass. Secondly, I am amazed at this theory that football is the only thread that holds this big nation together. I hope it is not another journalistic hypothesis. If we have come to the point that it is now football that holds us together, then things have really fallen apart:twisted::twisted: Na yeye tifs dey smell! The man Baba-Go-Slow, he took the right decision. Some hawkish ‘sports administrators’ wanted to strike. As usual, they put up a budget of 37 billion Naira and asked for it to be released now or the tournament preparations will be ‘jeopardized’, in the usual Nigerian fashion, this is how money is stolen. They did not tell Yar’adua that this is a development competition that FIFA supports to the tune of not less than 60%! The crooks quickly went to cut the budget down to 17 billion naira. Baba-go-Slow had already smelt a rat. Now, they are talking of something in the region of 9 billion naira! The damage has been done, even as Aso Rock has shifted and is willing to host the competition. This is how “sports” is used to milk the Nigerians dry! 37 billion Naira now now!!! Ole LOC!

SUYA  # 8 | 29.10.2008 12:47

akuluouno .... A long time ago Lord Stanley introduced a hockey Cup to a fractionalized pre colonial Canada. It was the first thing out of the realms of that regions murky politics that unified both Franco and Anglophone communities and does so till today. Today it is called the Stanley Cup. Name me another socio economic factor other than Football that unifies Nigeria in that same way and I have a funny feeling I will be saying na lie. Here a Yoruba can cheer for a Hausa player and an Ogoni for an Igbo without reservations or subliminal prejudice. It certainly has more umpf to it than Lugards dream. That’s all I am saying.

akuluouno  # 9 | 30.10.2008 03:55

@Philikita, Thanks my brother. It is just that our elites sense of shame and honour has been in intensive care unit for a long time, if not how could I submit a budget of 32 Billion Naira after a thorough study for a project and my principal reduces it to 9 Billion and I still remain in office. No wonder UMYA showed him the way out along with 19 other deadwoood ministers. :evil::evil: @Suya I agree with your Canadian example. Recall that the main factor driving the Canadian secession was merely language. Not water, good roads, food, marginalisation, good education or lack of employment opportunites or quota against the Quebecois. Hockey was found to be a common language that both the English and French sides could speak. Well if it has been said that football is our common language over here in Nigeria, so let it be but I think that even a mere supply of potable water all over Nigeria would do a better magic:D Thanks for good article anyway.