A former Nigerian international, Adokie Amaiesimaka, said that the dismissal of Stephen Keshi-led technical crew will not change anything in the Super Eagles. It will also not arrest the decline in Nigerian football.

Keshi along other technical members of the national team was sacked after beating Sudan 3-1 at the National Stadium Abuja in the 2015 AFCON qualifier.

Amiesimeka

The win came after Nigeria had lost two of its previous encounters and had a draw in the qualifying rounds, placing it in doubtful position of qualifying for the main event.

The Nigeria Football Association (NFA) has put in place a consortium of coaches led by Shuaibu Amodu to handle the national team.

“We have had 14 coaches since France 1998, does it mean that we do not have qualified coaches that can transform the team? Sacking Keshi and his crew does not change a thing; how do we expect Keshi to perform magic overnight, our problem did not start today”, said Amaiesimeka, who is also a lawyer.

“At the senior national level we should have elite players from the local league, but since Clement Westerhof, we have stopped producing players discovered from our league.

“The crop of players we produce these days shows the level of decline of our football.

The former national team player said the NFA must focus on the development of football at the grassroots in order the halt the current slide in the performance of the Super Eagles.

Amiesimeka once shook Nigerian soccer to its foundation when he dropped a bomb shell five years ago, that most players that Nigeria fielded in international competitions were over-aged.

Keshi was engaged in 2012 after Samson Siasia failed to qualify Nigeria for the nation’s cup in Equatorial Guinea. He subsequently led the Super Eagles to win the 2013 Nations Cup in South Africa and to the second round of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.