By Emmanuel Okogba
Former Nigeria captain, Mikel Obi has described Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the ongoing World Cup as a ‘hammer blow’.
Speaking on the Obi One Podcast, Mikel said, “I feel for the people of my country. I feel for my people in Nigeria because they are going to be devastated right now. I just feel the entire board of the NFF needs to go. Twice in a row we failed to qualify. It means something is wrong. A drastic change has to be carried out.”
He continued his lamentation, “We are the biggest footballing nation in Africa and failing to qualify is an indication that something is wrong and that requires drastic action.”
Mikel who represented Nigeria at two World Cup tournaments (2014 and 2018) has been very vocal about his desire to see the football body overhauled.
Before the consecutive failure to qualify, Nigeria has only missed out on one edition since its debut appearance in 1994 – that of 2006 that was held in Germany.
Asiding the pain of missing out felt by football loving Nigerians, financial benefits that would have improved football development have also been lost.
Vanguard reports that Nigeria would have earned $12.5 million dollars for qualification alone, and stood to earn more if they had progressed deep into the competition.
