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Nigerians watch World Cup, ponder what went wrong

The power went out with the match tied, leaving the crowd at an outdoor cafe staring at a blank screen, but a man discussing whether Nigeria could have hosted Africa’s first World Cup barely paused.

“You see what I mean?” says Segun Joshua, 45, the outage during the World Cup semi-final between the Netherlands and Uruguay providing the perfect example of why he says it’s impossible.

Turn back the clock to decades ago and many may have bet that it would be Nigeria — and not South Africa — basking in the glow of a successful first World Cup on the continent because of the country’s enormous potential.

But history, like football, does not play out on paper. Reality has left Nigerians watching this year’s tournament with a tinge of frustration because of what might have been.

While many here say they are proud to see a fellow African nation defy doubters and host the world’s biggest sporting event, the occasion is also especially bittersweet: This year marks the 50^th anniversary of independence for Nigeria, and there would have been few better ways to celebrate.

“It’s a tragedy that is becoming a farce,” said Opeyemi Agbaje, an economic analyst who writes a column for Nigerian newspaper BusinessDay. “It doesn’t have to be this way. We have the resources.”

Consider the country’s attributes: rich in oil and gas, Africa’s most populous nation, a history and culture with wide-ranging influence, and music beloved worldwide, to name a few.

But militant attacks on the oil industry in the south and deadly religious clashes in the country’s north have taken a heavy toll.

The grind of daily life in Lagos, the sprawling economic capital of some 15 million people, tells a separate story, as well.

The less than 10-kilometre (six-mile) drive to the outdoor cafe where Joshua watched the match took some 45 minutes because of the city’s legendary traffic, the lane markings serving as mere suggestions as drivers maneuvered to advance.

A hulking power plant sits on the side of the road like a monument to industrialisation — but it might be considered a cruel joke. The country is woefully short of electricity despite its oil wealth.

It was no surprise that the power outage occurred during the match since they happen all the time, a part of life in this country of 150 million people.

The challenges of overcoming the legacy of British colonialism here should never be underestimated, but ask Nigerians what explains recent history and many provide a simple answer: corruption.

“Corruption defines all failures in this country,” said Bayo Okunade, a political science professor at the University of Ibadan.

In fact, suspicions of corruption have even bled into the game of football itself.

Nigeria’s poor showing in the World Cup led President Goodluck Jonathan to ban the team from international play and order an audit into how the funds allocated for the squad at the tournament were used.

He later reversed his decision on the team’s two-year ban under pressure from FIFA, but the country’s anti-graft agency is now investigating top football executives sacked after Nigeria’s first-round flameout.

While Jonathan’s ban may have seemed harsh to some, it received significant support here from those who felt somebody was at least taking action.

That included Remy Odimbegwu, a 32-year-old computer engineer who ate stewed fish and drank Star beer as he watched the semi-final match at the outdoor cafe.

As for hosting the World Cup, he said he was glad to see South Africa do well, but could not help feeling some regret.

“We are supposed to have it better than them,” he said. “There are mixed feelings.”

Jonathan, who officially took power in May after the death of his predecessor Umaru Yar’Adua, has stirred some hope in the country.

He has pledged to improve electricity distribution and cut down on corruption, while signaling openness by keeping a Facebook page and posting regularly.

But others have also come into office here promising to make good on the country’s potential.

“What South Africa has done, we could have done this better,” said Femi Awosanya, a 38-year-old computer systems analyst also at the cafe. “If we had a very good government in place.”