Today is all-fools day or as we popularly call it in Nigeria, April Fool’s Day.

But it’s not an April Fool prank that there will now be 10 countries representing Africa at the 2026 World Cup beginning from June and the great Super Eagles will not be one of these teams.

That is the sad reality.

The pain of this lost lifetime opportunity cuts far deeper than four years ago when the Super Eagles fell at the final hurdle to arch-rivals the Black Stars of Ghana for a place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

2022 Qatar offered only five qualifying tickets for Africa, while the forthcoming Mundial in the USA, Canada and Mexico has now produced double that number for the continent.

Who is to blame for the latest disaster that has befallen Nigeria?

The NFF will certainly be the most popular scapegoats, and there are many reasons this is so.

The football federation were not decisive in the appointment of a coach for the Super Eagles even when it was very clear that the Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro will not remain in charge even after he guided the country to the final of the delayed 2023 AFCON.

It took almost a year and half before Finidi George eventually succeeded Peseiro.

The NFF must also take a share of the blame for not addressing the money issues concerning the team even when President Bola Tinubu graciously approved 17 billion Naira to clear unpaid bonuses and allowances running over several years.

Instead, the team had to embark on a pay strike on the eve of the CAF Final 2026 World Cup Playoffs in Rabat, Morocco, in November.

In the end, the Super Eagles could not even make the most of an unlikely second chance to qualify for the World Cup via the Playoffs.

What of the phantom protest against DR Congo spearheaded by the NFF?

It may have bought the football federation some breathing space and given millions some false hope, but incompetence caused the poor handling of the petition so much so that the FIFA disciplinary committee did not even attend to it.

Alas, talks of “we have a tight case”, “the ruling will be in our favour” were mere gimmicks to justify the astronomical cost of putting together this sham.

This was the same NFF who were handed a vote of confidence at their extra-ordinary congress in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

The players themselves must tell themselves the home truth that they failed the nation after recording just three points from their first four World Cup qualifiers even in a group that had the likes of Lesotho and Botswana.

That terrible start in the qualifying series dealt the country’s World Cup hopes the body blow that it was something of a miracle they even got through to the Playoffs.

The sad reality is that this same generation of players, who have distinguished themselves at their various clubs overseas, will for the second straight time fail to deliver for an expectant nation.

And now like their fans, they will again follow this World Cup on television.

This cannot help their careers and transfer market valuations.

The big joke is on Nigerian football and the government, which has invested heavily in the national sport with very little to show for this.

Football in Nigeria is in dire need of fundamental reforms, from the size and composition of the NFF Congress, transparency and accountability at the football federation as well as a purposeful and competent secretariat.

President Tinubu’s Government is best positioned to ensure that it is no longer business as usual for those who are supposed to running our football, but chose to ruin it.

If again we as a people failed to do the needful, this vicious cycle of failure will be what we will be discussing four years from now.

May it not be another day for fools.

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