I am in deep thought as I get to this point in writing this page.  Suddenly, I am feeling melancholic!  Pictures flash through my mind, of generations of Nigerians  that committed their lives to the service of the beautiful game in Nigeria from players to administrators, to coaches, referees and even supporters of the game. I remember Rev Father Dennis Slattery of St. Finbarr’s College and his work with Nigerian football and Nigerian footballers. He was coach, referee, administrator, teacher and games master all in one. I remember other administrators in that mould: Oyo Orok Oyo, whose conduct and support for the cause of Nigerian and African football as the first Nigerian member of the CAF and FIFA executive committees should serve as a standard and example for us all today.  I remember player and coach, Joseph Deshi, one of the first Nigerians to handle the national team. I recall the sacrifices of great Nigerians like Chief Akin Deko, Chief Olalekan Salami, Alhaji Mohammed Danwawu, Mr. Godwin Amachree, Chief Jerry Enyeazu, Mr. J.K. Tandoh, Mr. Patrick Okpomo, and so on, men who gave up huge portions of their lives to grow Nigerian football!

I recall the players that sprouted from the sandy playing fields of Calabar, Jos, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Kano and several other parts of the country! Players who paid the ultimate price giving up the better part of the youth to serving the national cause. The list is too long but I will name a few through the generations – Teslim Balogun, Dan Anyiam,  Jide Johnson, Fabian Duru, Sunday Atuma, David Dankaro, Joe Erewa, Carl O’dwyer, Samuel Garba, Yakubu Mambo, Emeka Onyedika, Haruna Ilerika, Tunde Bamidele, Best Ogedegbe, Mudashiru Lawal, Samuel Okwaraji, Ali Jeje, and hundreds of others that have passed on, now only occasionally remembered in passing comments. I recall many great referees that officiated with courage, diligence and integrity through the formative years of Nigerian football. They include B. J. Oni, Augustine Anisha, Sunday Woghiren, Eyo Honesty, Hammed Salaudeen, Alhaji Oyeyemi, and many still alive today like Sunny Badru, Festus Okubule and Linus Mba, who traversed the football fields with dignity and great authority. They kept watch over the game and set such high standards that we can hardly match even today.

I recall the role of the media in all of this. The voices that gave life to games on radio, the faces on television, and the pens that painted pictures in our minds with words. We hardly remember them any more even though without them there would not have been us. They include Ishola Folorunsho, Ernest Okonkwo, Sebastine Offurum, Sam Akpabot, Young Harry, Yinka Craig, Kere Ahmed, Horatio Agedah, Esbee Oshuntolu, and so many others.

There is a whole battalion of other Nigerians across the fields of football that served the game through the generations whose footprints have become a blur simply because we have neglected to build monuments in their names to serve as inspiration to the succeeding generations – Deacon Osho, Baba Eleran, Madam Rangers, Zeal Onyia, and many others. In forgetting all these people we now come up with administrators and managers without a grasp and appreciation of the history of the game, without a commitment to the game, and whose dedication is to their pockets only! There is nothing of the past around us designed to inspire, challenge, motivate and cultivate the right values in administration which has now become a passport to free money!

I remember all these great patriots and heroes with some melancholy this day. And I dedicate the present struggle for integrity and credibility in Nigerian football administration to their memories. Their seedlings are still around and alive, wasting in the neglect of non-recognition of their fathers past roles! One day soon, shall rise from the ashes of our present struggle, those that will build walls and monuments to the memory of all these people that served football, are no more but have their children  in our midst who may need football’s support, and receive the occasional recognition and appreciation for their fathers’ contributions.

Amongst us also are a generation of football people alive and ageing but broken in spirit and in body, neglected by a system in place that never provides for them even with the vast opportunities that the football industry provides in this day and age.  Football can become a huge industry in this country that can absorb and engage all members of the football fraternity in one profitable activity or the other. It merely needs a visionary, a clear road map and the intellectual capacity to perform. I picture in my head the future of the football planet and the promise it holds for the youths of Nigeria. A see a new world football order with Nigeria one of the countries at the apex, with Nigerian players armed with intellectualism, power, fame and fortune.

In short, the dead shall be remembered and their living wards supported. The poor and the living shall be offered opportunities to live decently and to fend for themselves. The next generation shall be empowered with education and an excellent football foundation.  Some of us lucky to still be alive today have responsibility to all those that are alive and in need of one kind of support or the other. We are determined to leave a legacy of standards and models for the generations to come. We give thanks to God Almighty!