Why sports minister Dalung must rethink the issue of a foreign coach

Oga minister, if the Nigeria Football Federation needs to hire a foreign coach for the Super Eagles please support them financially, because you would find that you are doing yourself a world of good. Success in football is a great way to keep Nigerians, especially the youth, happy, united and engaged. Nigerian coaches have held sway for 14 and a half years of the last 16 and the Super Eagles have somehow become serial losers. There are different ways to look at what is good for Nigeria. One way is to keep employing Nigerian coaches and watching the Super Eagles slip to the level of minnows like Swaziland and Chad. The other is to employ a world class coach regardless of his nationality, and watch the Super Eagles become a dominant force in Africa again. There is an economic cost to this. Our failures in recent years have cost us tens of millions of dollars in sponsorships, appearance fees, broadcast rights, endorsements, partnerships etc. Last time, we could only secure friendlies with the likes of Luxembourg – a European team ranked 146th in the world at the time! We cannot keep making issues like this about nationalist sentiments in an increasingly interdependent world that offers every country to a global pool of world class talents. Even our ‘oga’ England are going for a foreign coach. The crazy thing is that we employ Nigerian coaches and they in turn hire some K-legged foreign assistants. LOL. Should the consideration not be about the Super Eagles bringing better results and opportunities for Nigerians? Or is repeated failure bearable and consequent loss of business okay as long as it is brought on us by Nigerians?