THURSDAY I wrote my column about Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Another heartbreak. Another missed tournament. Another round of blame games and empty promises.
Then my elder brother Solomon dropped a bombshell in our family WhatsApp group.
He shared a yellowed newspaper clipping – the New Nigerian, Saturday, November 28, 1970. The byline read: Clement Isaiah. My late father.
I started reading, and my blood ran cold.
“Sad. Nigeria’s Green Eagles are out of the African Nations Cup Championships; beaten by Congo Brazzaville in Brazzaville last Sunday.”
Wait. Congo? We just lost to Congo. In 2025.My father was writing about losing to Congo in 1970.
I kept reading.
“It will be wrong to blame the players all the time. We would be chasing shadows if we accuse our coaches for our failure. The authorities are to blame.”
I had written almost the exact same words on Thursday. Fifty-five years later.
Every single point he made in 1970, I had made this week. The government’s non-chalant attitude. The lack of long-term planning. The failure to blame administrators instead of players and coaches. The nation’s prestige at stake.
Everything. Word for word, theme for theme, frustration for frustration.
My father died without seeing Nigerian football get better. And here I am, his son, writing the same column he wrote 55years ago, about the same problems, the same failures, the same excuses.
The Parallels are sickening.Let me show you what I mean. In 1970, my father wrote: “When the Green Eagles failed to score on their soil, many of us looked forward to seeing a miracle in Brazzaville. And alas, we failed!”
In 2025, we drew at home against teams we should have beaten comfortably – Lesotho, Benin, Rwanda. Then we went into the playoffs hoping for a miracle. And we lost to Congo. Again. On penalties this time, but a loss is a loss.
My father wrote: “One wonders at the non-chalant attitude of the government. The government has not made its intention known of what it has for sports.”
In 2025, where is the government? What is the long-term plan for Nigerian football? Anyone?
He wrote: “It will be wrong to blame the players all the time. We would be chasing shadows if we accuse our coaches for our failure. The authorities are to blame.”
This week, everyone has been calling for Eric Chelle’s head. Blaming the players.. And I wrote – just like my father did 55 years ago – that we’re looking in the wrong direction. The Nigerian Football Federation is the problem. The administrators. The government. Not the coach who’s been here a few months. Not the players giving their all on the pitch.
My father wrote: “The government knows too well that in international matches it is the nation’s prestige that is always involved.”
In 2025, our prestige is in tatters. Cape Verde – with a population smaller than Kubwa in the FCT – is going to the World Cup. We’re not. Angola is playing friendlies against Argentina. We can’t even organise proper warm-up games.
Here’s what really gets me. My father identified the problems in 1970. Fifty-five years ago. More than half a century.
He called for government action. He called for long-term planning. He pointed out that we couldn’t keep blaming players and coaches when the system was broken.
And what happened? Nothing.
Absolutely nothing changed.
The same broken system that failed in 1970 is the same broken system failing today. Different names, same incompetence. Different decades, same excuses. Different tournaments, same heartbreak.
Do you understand how insane this is? My father wrote about these problems before I was born. I’m writing about them now. And at this rate, my children will probably write about them too.
Three generations of Nigerians, writing the same column about the same failures.That’s not just a football problem. That’s a Nigerian problem.
In 1970, my father mentioned “the rift which developed between a number of players and coach Amaechina.” Even back then, there were internal squabbles. Player-coach drama. The same mess.
In 2025, we have one of the best strikers in the world – Victor Osimhen. We have the 2024 CAF Player of the Year – Ademola Lookman. We have Nigerians starring for top clubs across Europe.But we can’t qualify for the World Cup.You know why? Because talent has never been our problem. Organisation is our problem. Leadership is our problem. Vision is our problem.
My father knew this in 1970. I know this in 2025. Everyone knows this. But nothing changes because the people who can change things don’t want to change them.
The current system works perfectly for them. They get their positions. Their titles. Their access to funds that somehow never make it to players or coaches. They travel to tournaments and conferences. They collect per diems and allowances.Why would they change a system that benefits them?
The part of my father’s piece that hit me hardest was this: “While the ordinary sports loving citizens of this country lament over the sorrowful first round knockout, one wonders at the non-chalant attitude of the government.”
Non-chalant. That was the word he used in 1970.Where is the government today? Any emergency meeting? Any task force? Any sign that missing back-to-back World Cups matters to anyone in power?
Nothing.
Just like 1970.My father wrote about “the voluminous second national development plan” that was supposed to cover several fields including sports. That was 1970.
How many national development plans have we had since then? How many Five Year Plans? How many Vision statements? Vision 2010. Vision 2020. Now what, Vision 2030?
All of them had sections on sports development. All of them gathered dust while our football federation continued its circus act.
What This Says About Nigeria
This isn’t just about football anymore.This is about Nigeria as a country.We don’t learn. We don’t build institutions. We don’t plan for the long term. We react to crises, make noise, form committees, write reports that nobody reads, then go back to sleep until the next crisis.
In 1970, my father called for long-term planning. In 2025, we’re still winging it. Still relying on individual brilliance. Still hoping for miracles. Still blaming everyone except the people who are actually responsible.
You want to know the saddest part? In 1970, Nigeria was barely 10 years old as a country. We had just ended a civil war. We were still finding our feet. You could argue we were still learning.
But now? We’re 65 years old. We’ve had more than half a century to get this right. And we’re still making the same mistakes. Still having the same conversations. Still writing the same columns.
My father’s generation failed to fix Nigerian football. My generation is failing to fix it. The next generation will probably fail too, unless something fundamental changes.
After reading my father’s piece, I wanted to just delete my column . What’s the point? If nothing changed in 55 years, why waste words calling for change now?
But then I thought about something else.My father didn’t stop writing because change wasn’t happening. He kept writing. He kept calling out the failures. He kept demanding better, even though he probably knew nothing would change in his lifetime.
Maybe that’s all we can do. Keep writing. Keep demanding. Keep refusing to accept this mediocrity, even when everything tells us nothing will change.
Because the alternative – just accepting failure, shrugging our shoulders, making excuses – is worse.
I refuse to believe that Nigeria is condemned to this cycle forever. I refuse to believe that my children will write the same column I’m writing, that my father wrote, about Nigerian football’s failures.
But refusing to believe it isn’t enough. We need action. Real, sustained, systematic action.My father called for government intervention in 1970. I’ll call for it again in 2025, knowing full well it probably won’t come.
We need a complete overhaul of the Nigerian Football Federation. Not reshuffling. Not committees. Not “reforms” that mean nothing. An actual clean slate.
We need to stop owing players and coaches. Pay people what they’re owed. On time. Every time.
We need long-term planning. A 10-year, 20-year vision for Nigerian football. With measurable goals. With accountability.
We need to invest in grassroots development. Build academies. Train coaches. Create systems that don’t depend on hoping talented kids somehow make it to Europe on their own.
We need government commitment. Real commitment. Not press releases and photo ops, but actual investment in sports infrastructure and administration.
We need to play meaningful friendlies against top teams. We need to make it easier for diaspora talent to play for Nigeria. We need to stop the corruption that eats away at everything we try to build.
My father called for all of this in 1970. I’m calling for it now. Somebody will probably call for it in 2078.After reading my father’s piece, one question keeps running through my mind:What would he think if he could see Nigerian football today?
Would he be surprised that nothing changed? Would he be angry? Disappointed? Resigned?
Or would he just shake his head and say, “I told you so”?
I think about him writing that column in 1970, probably hoping that someone in power would listen. That things would get better. That future generations wouldn’t have to write the same laments.
And here I am, his son, writing the exact same thing, 55 years later.
That breaks my heart more than missing the World Cup.
So yeah. Some things never change in Nigeria.We lost to Congo in 1970. We lost to Congo in 2025.
We blamed the wrong people in 1970. We’re blaming the wrong people in 2025. We lacked long-term planning in 1970. We lack it in 2025
The government was silent in 1970. The government is silent in 2025.
My father wrote about it then. I’m writing about it now.
And unless something fundamental changes in how we approach football – and honestly, how we approach nation-building – my children will write about it too.That’s the real tragedy. Not missing the World Cup. Not losing to Congo.
The tragedy is that three generations can see the same problems, call for the same solutions, and watch nothing change.
– Nda-Isaiah is a political analyst based in Abuja and can be reached on jonesdryx@gmail.com. His syndicated column appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Saturday.
