Stepheñ Keshi did it

 The Late Stephen Keshi was a footballer when School sports had a primacy in Nigeria.

To the glory of God, he captained

Nigeria to win our second African Nations Cup and capped it by coaching Nigeria to win our third, African Nations Cup.

Today, we are talking of employing a foreigner to coach us.

It was the late Sam Mbakwe that tearfully called for the return of the white man to right the wrongs of Nigeria and lead us aright.

Not a few people took him serious. Why then do we feel, only a white man can coach Nigeria?

We have many Nigerians who have excelled outside Nigeria and are still excelling.

The problem with our administrators is that they forget the demands of the office, once a Nigerian is employed.

A Nigerian football administrator, threatened to resign should Stephen Keshi's appointed be renewed.

His grouse was that our then National Coach was a disrespectful young man.

Late Stephen Keshi was his junior in secondary school!

Can you imagine that happening to a foreign Coach?

Keshi brought in young talents and did his best. The administrators could not but envy him.

The point is that there is a pattern to every enterprise.

Football is no exception. There was a time Nigerian basketball was on an ascendancy. 

It was down to the effort of three club owners: Toyin Sonoiki of Lagos Islanders, Ayo Bakare of Ebun Comets and Col Sam Ahmedu of Dodan Warriors.

These men revolutionized our basketball and we soared as far as the Olympics and World Championship. It not only was eye catching, it attracted a wide spectatorship.

Football needs like minds who will throw their cap in the ring. Ring changes and do the needful.

You do not invite applications from Coaches. That is a laughable anachronism.

You identify a coach or coaches and rank them. You hold discussions with them and agree or disagree.

When you invite applications, it shows you have no one in mind. No.

You decide what you want and go in search of who aggregates your thoughts and not for the coach to tell you his history.

Football is an open game with a global market and basic indices for assessment.

Jose Mourinho recommended Passeiro and like Mourinho, he showed defensive tendencies and winning aura but in the final, he had nothing to offer.

He lacked the experience and could not motivate our boys who were obviously lacking in experience.

Mumuni Alao, a respected Nigerian journalist was asked if he preferred a foreign coach to a Nigerian Coach, his response was that whoever was appointed be given a contract.

Appoint a Nigerian Coach on a two year contract and agree performance targets and give him the tools.

After two years, you sit down and review his performance against the agreed targets.

That is the way to go. We owe ourselves a duty to develop our coaches. No one else has that duty.