With the appointment of ace football star and tested coach, Stephen Keshi, as the new chief coach of the Super Eagles following the disengagement of the erstwhile coach, Samson Siasia, for failing to qualify the team for Africa Cup of Nations tournament, there is hope that the nation's football will soon bounce back to continental and global reckoning.

But such hope can only be realized if the fundamental problems plaguing the development of the game are fully addressed. The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) that is charged with the administration of football in the country should allow it to grow. The NFF can only do this by ensuring that the comatose national league is resuscitated once again. Let it encourage youth football competitions at the grassroots and tap the enormous football talents that abound in the country and stop meddling in team selection, which has been the bane of football in the country.

It is common knowledge that Siasia had some problems handling the national team. Some of them were idiosyncratic. Yet some others were extraneous. There is no doubt whatsoever that there was a disconnection between him and the team before things fell apart. His failure as a coach stemmed more from lack of adequate human relations management than lack of expertise. All these and the meddlesomeness of the NFF contributed largely to his failure.

Now that we have a new person, who stunned the soccer world by qualifying an underrated West African country, Togo, to the World Cup in South Africa, last year, let our football grow. Keshi, a versatile player, has enough experience as a player and a coach. No doubt, he is eminently qualified for the job.

But there are lots of challenges before him. One of them is to look at the past and find out what went wrong with our football and marshal out a roadmap on how to rejig Nigerian football. Keshi must be dexterous to bring the required verve and changes to the game. It should no longer be business as usual. Nigerians want action and positive action and nothing less than that.

The new coach has a very big responsibility to raise the nation's soccer rating. Currently, our football is at the lowest ebb ever in continental and global ranking. He should apply himself diligently to the job and get the best for the country.

For Keshi to achieve the desired results, there should be synergy and cooperation between the players and their handlers. Indiscipline among the players cannot take the team anywhere.
But it should be noted that no nation ever does well in international football if her domestic league is in disarray. This is a problem that the NFF should tackle without further delay. The league should be reorganized to raise future players for the national team and offshore clubs.

Let the nation's football authorities realize that besides unifying the country, football acts as a form of entertainment as well as an employer of labour. Let NFF therefore focus entirely on the development and growth of football in Nigeria instead of choosing players for the coach, a practice that has stunted the growth of our football.
Knowing full well that the problem of coaching in Nigeria is the NFF, let the football body give the new coach a free hand to build a new Super Eagles. Keshi should be allowed to perform. But he should know that his stay on the job depends on good performance.

He must be ready to take tough decisions. The new coach should scout for good players from the local league and street clubs and mix them with some good foreign- based players.
Relying on foreign players alone cannot do the magic. Let team selection be entirely based on merit as opposed to ethnocentric considerations. We believe that a significant number of the new team should come from the local league.
We wish him all the best in his new job and urge the NFF to give him the necessary support to build a new Super Eagles of everyone's dream.