Congratulations to Nigeria's Under-17 Soccer Squad for bringing home the 2007 FIFA World Cup, making it the third time our cadets will be winning the Gold Diadem. Bravo!
In da interest of "full disclosure", let it be known that Nigeria actually won the maiden edition in China 1985, and again in Japan 1993. Painfully, we've had a 14-year drought before last week!
Appropriately named Golden Eaglets, they won the cup without dropping a single match during the tournament. They beat every great team, from France 2-1 to Haiti 4-1, to Colombia 2-1, to Japan 3-0, to Argentina 2-0, and then capped it with a gruelling 3-0 finale against the European champions, Spain. Oh, what a nail-biting final, which ended in penalty shoot-out!
Commiserations to Spain. Better chance next time!
Our own Macaulay Chrisanthus won the Golden Boot for highest goals (seven), and was declared the Second MVP of the 2007 FIFA Fiesta. Double Bravo, son...we're proud of you! We are very proud of the whole team, and are most grateful to Coach Yemi Tella and his competent crew!
The team will continue their victory lap nationwide - deservedly so. As we celebrate, it's time to distill the lessons in this excellent achievement...for national development.
Here is my bold & ambitious short list:
a) Keep and groom these boys both as persons and as a TEAM - towards the 2010 World Cup.
b) Let's now have a Nigerian Sports University with SIX geopolitical Mega Campuses - to cater for every branch of sports (i.e. Football Academy, Track & Field Academy, Indoors College, Water Sports College, Paralympics Academy, etc) to give our sportsmen and women the best all-round education and training.
c) Strategic and generous Sports Awards, Grants, Scholarships and Fellowships & Honours for all categories of players, actors and stakeholders.
d) National catalytic annual budget of US$I bn sunk into Sports over the next 25 years, to create sound asset-infrastructure and resource base for this vital sector.
e) All "eligible" clubs to be grant-aided at between Naira 50-250m biennially, in a very very creative format that will also enable them hire sound crew, buy great players & athletes, and produce superstars.
f) We must now "internationalise" our local leagues, create our own grand prix, our own derby, and an "African Circuit" with great world class prizes. We have the space, we have the stars, we have the weather, we have the dollars, we have the population!
g) Through a Nigerian Media Special Trust, let's totally transform our multimedia offerings to fully support viewership, readership, global marketing and quality interaction in sports. Thank God for our newly launched Communications Satellite!
h) Recruit and fan out our very best as coaches and handlers, training them in the best places on earth, with a 5/20-year succession matrix.
My point is that we must invest HEAVILY, BOLDLY and CREATIVELY in sports. It is good for the citizens and profitably for the country. Here should be the magnet and market for ECOWAS Talents and Stars. Why not?
Without putting too fine a point on it, if a fraction of all the resources looted by our so-called leaders and their cohorts were this-invested, we would be a World 20 economy by now!!!
Let's use this victory as the right and perfect excuse so to do.
Happy CELEBRATIONS, Nigeria, many more go come o!
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