In the mid 90s there was a running joke about the Nigeria Football Federation – Nigeria Football Association as it was known then.
’No Future Ambition’, this was the term used to describe the Country’s apex football body – by insiders, stakeholders and fans.
There’s a degree of ‘anyhowness’ that an organization attains even by our standards where the custodians are regarded with very little faith and no good is expected.
Successive leaderships of the NFF have enjoyed basking in the success tales of the national teams and none more than the Super Falcons.
The most successful women’s national team in Africa, the roll call of individual and team accolades over the years have formed part of victory plaques hanging on the walls at the NFF building in Abuja, yet this team receives no more than a fleeting recognition before the clock strikes five.
The most recent case of this very indifferent relationship would be the team’s qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games and the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
While the qualification for Paris 2024 featured prominently as an achievement in the first year of Ibrahim Gusau’s NFF presidency – in an end of the year address -, the FA’s Head honcho would later signoff on what appears to be a hastily conceived media campaign for a 10th WAFCON title.
However, while this frenzy kicked into motion, senior players of the team banded to raise pertinent concerns around the Women’s game.
The leaders shared tales of neglect for National team players, poor welfare and only days to the 2024 WAFCON the auspicious matter of a backlog of unpaid allowances.
It has been over 329 days between the Olympic Games in Paris and Nigeria’s opening game at the WAFCON.
Even with the delayed announcement for the tournament in Morocco, you’d expect that in any ideal situation, a responsible FA would have set in motion processes to address all concerns before another major tournament.
A financial budget for the year, marketing initiatives with partners to commit to a flagship tournament and importantly, a kit’s deal with global brand Nike ought to cover a considerable amount of the team’s needs – which inadvertently turned out to be an embarrassment to the NFF today in Morocco.
.@NGSuper_Falcons kit update: Not good news, I’m afraid… One week after the #WAFCON kit, as supplied by @nikefootball, reached Morocco, it is still in the warehouse of the ADII – the country’s customs and excise service. @thenff is still “working to get it,” a team official… https://t.co/YHmkGAbLhl
— Osasu Obayiuwana (@osasuo) July 13, 2025
The offices of the NFF General-secretary or even President have both failed to provide answers to these questions – either biding time for some form of intervention or hoping in its atypical style that the pressure simmers down before it issues a grand statement.
What is clear though, is that the cycle of shame is in motion and while the shocking scenes back in 2004 and 2016 where the players staged sit-in protests to press home demands for unpaid entitlements may not resurface, one thing rings true with the NFF, old habits die hard.
