Following the recent removal of the former Super Eagles Coach, Samson Siasia, by the Nigerian Football Federation, the most appropriate thing for the sports body to have done if it had been composed of persons knowledgeable about football would have been to address the national virus of failure that has been the lot of our beloved sport, football, by doing a serious and sincere soul searching to know where we went wrong and to fathom where we should go from here.But alas, as in the fire brigade approach of our ruling political elite, the NFF has decided to gamble, once again, with our collective destiny by appointing a replacement, Stephen Keshi, as the senior national team manager. This, in their wisdom, will move our football forward.I am still waiting for them to appoint coaches for the other national teams that have either failed or exhibited signs of failure. After all, that seems the way forward, according to them.A major malaise that has befallen Nigeria as a country is the dearth of responsive and responsible leadership who will be sober enough to publicly admit its mistakes and genuinely seek forgiveness and assistance in noted areas of their shortcomings.Instead of being humble, successive governments in all facets of our national life have continued to arrogantly exhibit incompetence; and when it becomes an embarrassment even to themselves, they start giving excuses and looking for scapegoats.With the appointment of Keshi, the NFF has been busy trying hard to justify why he is the most qualified coach to take Nigeria to the Promised Land, as if they didnt say the same thing when they appointed Siasia who has now become the scapegoat of their failure.Even though the sack of Siasia was in line with the thinking and aspirations of most football followers in Nigeria because of the enormous hopes which he dashed, the truth is that our football, with the way it was and is being run - just like our country - is a disaster waiting to happen. Or was Siasia also responsible for the failure of the Under-17, Under-20 and the Falcons at their various levels'A society can only move forward through sincere and positive hard work, rather than gambling that has become a way of life among our people. Its an indisputable fact that Nigeria is a huge gamble in which those in position of authority believe that the solution to the myriad of problems confronting the society lies in wishing for some good luck.Despite the reality of the security challenges facing the country, which this administration has been unable to address, President Goodluck Jonathan was quoted a fortnight ago as saying that Boko Haram will soon fade away, as if it were a piece of cloth that could be used and discarded. Well, the bad news is that in the absence of serious and genuine effort to tackle the Boko Haram madness, Nigerians had better impress it on persons in authority that their thinking and actions are at variance with reality.Indeed, the chicken came home to roost when the Super Eagles hosted Botswana and played a goalless draw right here at home; and instead of admitting the big trouble that our football has run into, some people are busy churning out excuses as to why the Eagles played the way they did when it was obvious that even if this team had played a goalless draw against a selected team composed of my mother and her mates of 60+ years of age, some people will still be shameless enough to make up excuses. Well, time will tell.The fundamental problem with our football, just like our country Nigeria, is that we are no longer a producing country but rather a consuming one. Gone are those days when we had policies of churning out talents in various fields. Then, we had organisations like YSFON and others that helped in discovering raw talents that were nurtured to bring us glory. Today, what we have succeeded in doing in our football, just like in our political life, is that we recycle failures at both the coaches and players levels.All the coaches that failed the national teams at one time or the other are in the technical committee or one arm or the other of the NFF. So, what do we expect other than failure' The same players who failed under Amodu Shuaibu, Berti Volt, Lars Largerback, and lately, Samson Siasia, are the same ones being paraded today by a one-time Under-21 Eagles coach failure Keshi.Watching the Super Eagles in the goalless against Botswana, the question that worried my mind was, are these the best that Nigeria with a population of over 150 million people can offer' I absolutely disagree. But one thing which came out clearly in the match was that, coaching wise, theres no difference between six and half a dozen; meaning that between Siasia and Keshi, there is no difference.Ekujumi, public affairs analyst, wrote from 26a, Adeshina Street, Ikeja Lagos.
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