First it was to be. Then it was not to be. Then it is to be again! The decision to host the 2009 FIFA Under-17 World Football championship by Nigeria has been on and off like a radio without clear signals! Then came the news that brought some relief to Nigerians – between October and November 2009 Nigeria will welcome young football players from around the world to 8 different cities for two weeks of unadulterated football. According to reports it took the personal intervention of the Nigerian President for this to happen. I do not understand that. It appears the Federal Executive Council was not fully or properly briefed about all the issues surrounding the championship and that there was no articulation of the genesis, the expectations, the cost implications, and a clear vision for the event. This can be easily attributed to how Nigeria became host of the event in the first place. How did the country become host of a global event it never bid for and never indicated any interest in?

Nigeria has a fair history of hosting global football events. It hosted one that was bigger than the present Under-17 championship in 1999. Its postmortem declared that experience as a bad investment. Nigeria came out of that 1999 FIFA World Youth championship with tales of woe, wasted resources, destroyed facilities (Liberty Stadium Ibadan and National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, are two good examples) and generally failed promises! The country had nothing at the end to show for the huge expenditure used in organizing the championship, except, of course, a few individual pockets that were lined! The main lesson after that was clear: Nigeria would never be led by the nose again to host any international football event without clear justification for its need, objective and viability. As a result, interest to host any developmental global event waned. Even one with obvious economic and social benefits like the World Cup proper was shot down through public outcry when the country attempted to bid for the 2010 World Cup. The other championships bring no economic gains and attract no global train of football followers as was trumpeted in ‘selling’ the idea of Nigeria ‘99 to government. In fact, during the 1999 competition, a few of the venues were embarrassingly empty even when the gates were declared free! Generally, the promised thousands of tourists never came for the events. Many business people had gone to borrow money to expand their businesses for the purpose of generating revenue from the promised large tourist turnout. Most went bankrupt. Many people lost their savings and lives from the resultant stress of that disaster. Even television made little money from international buy-in to the event. So it is clear that FIFA’s events outside the World Cups, male and female, are a big risk for any country hoping to make them financial cash-cows. That’s why FIFA describes them as developmental, provides most of the funds to organize them, and does not saddle countries (most of them from the developing block) with financial burdens in hosting the events.

When the issue of hosting another championship came up some four or five years ago, Nigeria’s interest was limited to the African Cup of Nations, the only championship outside the World Cup that could, with a good marketing strategy, be viable for the country. Nigeria lost to Angola in the bid for the 2010 Nations Cup and in order to compensate the country for the ‘humiliation’ suffered, CAF offered Nigeria the Greek gift of hosting the FIFA under-17 championship that had been offered to Africa, with the understanding that the funding responsibility will be mostly borne by FIFA. Nigerian officials accepted. The key issues are therefore the following: all of this happened when Obasanjo, not Yar Adua, was President of Nigeria; the country did not bid to host the event; no documents were prepared or presented by Nigeria; no briefs were given the new Nigerian government; FIFA would bear most of most of the expenditure; and Nigeria would be required to provide suitable venues and some logistics.

It was clear. Hosting the Under-17 championship, unlike other global events, should not be expensive, complex or a logistical nightmare. It is so simple to organize and fund that a country should see it as a blank canvass waiting for an artist’s brush. A country can make of it and with it whatever it wants without drawing blood from its resources. It can use it to drive any number of social programmes, youth empowerment initiatives, job creation opportunities, etc. It can hardly ever become a commercially viable or commercially driven project even if those cannot be completely ruled out depending on the creativity of those running the show. Otherwise, the championship does not require the huge sums that Nigerians woke up to read about last week. That’s why the people’s reaction was understandable. They were angered not necessarily at the cancellation by government but at the fact that 35 billion naira was required to host a championship that has not been sold to Nigerians as having any benefits to the country. It was never going to fly! To make matters worse the LOC quickly came up with a revised budget of less than 50% following the initial outcry! That smells! It immediately calls into question the integrity of not just the first budget but also the second! Who, at a time like this, has the audacity to present a 35.5 billion Naira budget for a developmental competition that Nigeria did not seek to host, did not bid for, and that is usually funded mostly by FIFA?

Whatever government’s reason for taking the initial decision to withdraw interest in hosting it was very unpopular with most Nigerians. The people’s fury was directed not at the government itself but at the Local Organising Committee that had been economical with the whole ‘truth’ in requesting for such exorbitant funds for the event. When the figures were revealed not just Nigerians but CAF, FIFA and the entire global football community were shocked!

Thanks to the Nigerian people that awakened the President who quickly nipped in the bud what was heading towards becoming a major public relations disaster for Nigeria by rescinding the initial decision and cutting the LOC to size.

In spite of all the revelations, Nigerians still wanted the country to host the championship. The country’s youths have been preparing for it seriously. There is a whole new generation waiting to seize the opportunity to launch themselves into limelight and possible economic emancipation. Nigeria are the defending champions of the championship, why would the country not participate in the next championship. Not hosting means not participating as the country had earned automatic rights to participate as host. It was too late for the country to participate in the qualifying rounds! The poor work by a group was set to adversely affect a country with its teeming youths. Anger was brewing. The President had to intervene. I do not know how the President arrived at the figure of 9 billion Naira as the new budget for the event but with proper planning and leadership, the country would not require even such stupendous costs for a championship whose attraction for hosts is its simplicity, non-cumbersome logistics, and low funding requirement.

Having said all of that, Nigeria can take that seemingly small event and turn it into one that could help promote and project elements of its social, cultural and even economic agenda. All that is required is the constitution of a new LOC made up of persons of integrity, a a clear vision as to what can be achieved even in the relatively short time left.