Nigeria’s World Cup Exit -By Kehinde Oluwatosin Babatunde

Nigeria lost to the albiceleste for the umpteenth time on Tuesday, 26 June, 2018. I was disappointed but not surprised for there was nothing that happened in Russia I did not write about in the year 2016 in my article ” TRUISMS, OXYMORON AND FINDING A BALANCE”.

My disappointment hinges on the timing of the exit from the world cup, it came at a time Nigeria is at her lowest of lows, mindless killings in the north, high prices of consumable goods , election brouhaha etc.

At a time like this, the world cup represent a legitimate past time, an escape route from the tragedy that is Nigeria. We are out and we are all back to our default settings.

Immediately after the Croatia match I quickly wrote about the lessons from Russia with anticipation that we might not make it beyond the group stage, the Iceland victory brought optimism to everyone,however i was cautious with my optimism knowing that loosing the entire three points in the first game might come back to hurt us. Since our exit, everyone I have met and spoken to have continuously reiterate that “Those boys really tried, they deserve an accolade”.

I have not stopped asking myself “How long will trying be the highest metric of measuring our success at the global stage?”, people talked about ‘we tried’ like there was a separate trophy for those who tried.

This mindset of adulating efforts even when it doesn’t yield results is why your local government chairman digs a manual borehole for you and expects you to spend like an hour to swing water out of it.

He knew you won’t complain that such manual borehole is old fashioned and stressful but rather you will give him accolades for at least digging the borehole and not taking the money abroad like his political ilk. I would be publishing my article on the lessons learnt when I’m moved to do so, however it’s important to state here that whoever brought the idea that ‘Naija’ should be the inscription on the jersey should be sanctioned, it was Nigeria that qualified for the world cup and not ‘Naija’.

For me the sobriquet ‘Naija’ does not connote seriousness, everywhere ‘Naija’ is mentioned or discussed it’s with a mentality of pleasure and relaxation, ‘Naija’ is what happens to you when you are on the third bottle of star lager with an assorted complement of Orisirisi ,with two nubile chicks by the side guzzling sweat from your forehead with their hands.

Why do we have to go the world cup, the biggest soccer fiesta in the world with such mindset of pleasure and desire to win?

Kehinde Oluwatosin Babatunde is a prolific writer and public speaker.
Email: Kehindeobabatunde@gmail.com

Twitter: @_Tqatq