The government should stop funding sports

Nigeria should stop pretending that pouring public money into sports is the same thing as developing sports. It is not. For decades, the government has funded football through grants, interventions, bonuses, camps, competitions, travel and assorted forms of financial assistance. Yet, the more the government spends, the more dysfunctional the system appears to become. At what point do we admit that the model itself is broken?

The latest evidence is staring us in the face. The Super Eagles did not participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Nigeria also missed Qatar 2022, which means the Super Eagles have now missed two consecutive World Cups. This is particularly painful and a bitter pill to swallow because Africa had ten places at the expanded 48-team tournament. Nigeria still could not make it. The Eagles finished second in their qualifying group and subsequently lost to DR Congo on penalties in the African play-off.

Football is Nigeria’s drumbeat. It is one of the few things capable of bringing together Nigerians across ethnic, religious, political and social divides. When the Super Eagles play, the country stops, and when they win, Nigeria celebrates together. That is why this failure hurts so much.

But the crisis is deeper than the Super Eagles. The Super Falcons, once the undisputed queens of African women’s football, have suffered an even more devastating setback. Nigeria lost 1-0 to Cameroon in the WAFCON quarter-final and subsequently lost 2-1 to South Africa in the play-off for a place in the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil. Consequently, Nigeria will miss the Women’s World Cup for the first time since the competition began in…