Having come agonizingly close to their first AFCON title on foreign soil in Abidjan 40 years ago, the Super Eagles are back in the Ivory Coast, this time aiming to rewrite history. Their quest begins against Equatorial Guinea on Sunday by 3 pm, as Group A heats up after host Cote D’Ivoire’s opening 2:0 win against Guinea Bissau. This clash at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium marks a first-ever AFCON meeting between Nigeria and their regional rivals.
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Nigeria’s historical record at the AFCON is undeniable: 20 appearances, three titles, and 14 semi-final appearances in the last 17 tournaments. Though haunted by the 1984 defeat in Ivory Coast, the Eagles’ ‘LetsDoItAgain’ slogan reflects their ambition to repeat past glories. However, recent injuries and shaky performances, including a loss to Guinea, have raised doubts about their ability to challenge for the trophy. Key players like Ndidi, Boniface, and Umar are absent, and their replacements, though talented, lack the team’s former cohesion and confidence.
Students and football enthusiasts on the Obafemi Awolowo Campus have expressed excitement and concern about the Super Eagles’ ability to challenge for the 34th Africa Cup of Nations ongoing in Ivory Coast. This reaction is coming amidst other concerns regarding the inability to watch the competition due to the decrepit viewing infrastructure in some halls of residence, particularly the non-subscription of DSTV by the Division of Students Affairs.
Owombo Ezeikel, a Medical Student, describing his expectations for the tournament, said despite the Super Eagles’ struggles, he has a lot of expectations for Nigeria.
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‘I expect us to win against Equatorial Guinea. We have a lot of stars, and world-class players, I do not think Equatorial Guinea will be a match for us, but then this is AFCON and anything can happen
I just think Sadiq is a squad player and not the face of the team. Yeah, Boniface is a very big blow considering his form since the start of the season. Still, we have got quality all-around to beat Equatorial Guinea. Ndidi has been playing well for Leicester this season, but I have not been too impressed with him, and I feel this is another time for someone else to take his place, Frank Onyeka will not be bad, and he will do well considering he has been having a good season at Brentford.
‘If I say Nigeria will win the trophy, it will be because I am a Nigerian, Yeah, we have the quality to win the tournament but our performances in the last few tournaments have not been too okay’, he said.
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David Agbede, ETF Resident, Commenting on his expectations for the Super Eagles at the tourney, said ‘I still believe a lot of improvements are needed in African football. I do not have much expectations for the Super Eagles. I just really like their football due to a whole lot of disappointments and losses. Even for this tournament, I can see a lot of misfortunes around the Nigerian football team such as the loss of Victor Boniface and Umar Sadiq. The loss of Boniface is so painful to me because of the season he has had at Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. I would have loved him to replace Victor Osimhen who has not had a stellar season so far due to the troubles at his club, Napoli. I wish the Super Eagles would pull off a Miracle. They should easily breeze past Equatorial Guinea and even all group-stage matches but I do not think they can stand against the African powerhouses such as Egypt, Morocco, Senegal and Algeria’.
For Olaniyan Peters, a Law Student and Angola Hall resident, ‘I do not have high expectations for this AFCON. And like I always say, all we see in the team is individual brilliance and not the ability to play as a system. All our quality is concentrated in the final third with the likes of Osimhen, Terem Moffi, the injured Boniface and Sadiq, but take a look at the defensive third, it is a very sorry sight. Some of our defenders are not even regulars for their clubs, and even the regulars play in obscure leagues. Our first-choice goalkeeper, Uzoho, is not even a starter in his club Omonia Nicosia in Cyprus. I do not fancy a foreign coach because most are not used to the Nigerian style of play and the pride of wearing our green and white. I prefer a local coach, preferably an ex- from the 94 Eagles. We had Eguavon but lack of patience from the NFF sent him packing after failing to take us to the World Cup despite not losing any of the two legs to Ghana’.
On his predictions for the tournament, he said ‘Interestingly, my underdogs of this tournament are Gambia and Mali. I believe they can pull a surprise in this tournament. I don’t expect Morocco to pull off the miracle of Qatar. But I have my fingers crossed for an underdog miracle. I would love to see players like Yves Bissouma, Cheick Doucoure, and Musa Barrow of Gambia’.
STUDENTS LAMENT STATE OF DSTV IN HALLS OF RESIDENCE
Meanwhile, the lack of cable TV subscriptions in halls of residence has contributed to the frustration of football fans on campus. Since the commencement of this session, the lack of Cable TV subscriptions has been a great inconvenience to many football fans on campus. Students in ETF and Angola Hall particularly bear this brunt because while residents of Fajuyi and Awolowo Hall enjoy the respite of the subscriptions on the TVs in their buttery, residents of ETF and Angola are left hopeless. On match days, they are forced to leave the comfort of their hostels to either Awolowo or Fajuyi Halls, overcrowding those places, especially during big matches.
Watching football on weekends, a form of leisure, an opportunity to release bottled-up tensions of the immediate lecture week, and a means of building meaningful connections, is fast becoming a stressor for many students. Many are forced to trek long miles under the sun, only for them to stand and strain their eyes and neck due to overcrowding, further stressing them, and negatively impacting mental health outcomes.
Speaking on the situation, and how it would affect his watching of Nigeria at the AFCON tournament, David Agbede, explained that although he does not like watching the tournament due to its poor video quality, he would be interested in watching this one from the beginning to the end. However, he decried how the situation at the ETF Hall poses a difficulty in this regard. According to him, the only matches he has watched since he resumed were in Awolowo and Fajuyi Hall. ‘There is no television and a Cable TV subscription in my hostel and even a little after the resumption, there was a restriction by the porters of Awolowo Hall preventing us from watching our favourite matches’, he said, He further added that he loves the atmosphere at Awolowo Hall. The disses, banters and those loud celebrations when a goal is being scored are the main things keeping me entertained when watching football in Awolowo Hall.
Similarly, Olaniyan Peters explained that as a fresh student, he watches football at Angola and Awo Hall. ‘The experience has been both nice and bad at the same time. Sometimes there is a subscription in Angola and sometimes there is not. (In Awo Hall), the experience is very nice because of the banters and jabs shared by football fans of opposing teams’, he said.
Adetomiwa Akinyemi, a Fajuyi Resident, excited about the U-turn of Multichoice Company, DSTV, to show the match explained that the remaining obstacle for students on campus to watch the tourney is the limited number of viewing stations.
‘The viewing station here in Fajuyi Hall which is the lower buttery is not that spacious considering the number of students that are football lovers. In Fajuyi, I think we only have two working TVs, one at the Porter’s Lodge and the other at the Buttery. Most male guys are football lovers and wouldn’t want to miss the AFCON tournament, being staunch supporters of the Super Eagles Team, so they will turn out en-masse to support the team, leaving the buttery jam-packed’, he said.
He also lamented how the porters usually drive them away from watching matches from the TV at the porter’s lodge, and how the buttery owners are not always readily available on Sundays, thereby leaving students unable to Sunday matches sometimes.
SHOBO, Class Representative of Entrepreneurship Year One, narrated that since he has been residing at ETF Hall, he has not been able to watch any match at the Common Room despite the increment in the hostel fee which should have compensated for it. He lamented how he has always watched football on his phone or at Awolowo Hall. He acknowledges his experience of watching football at Awolowo as lively but decried the stress of leaving his hostel there.
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Commenting on the tournament, he is optimistic that Nigeria will win and he said ‘Nigeria should be able to defeat Equatorial Guinea tomorrow because we have the most valuable squad in AFCON and we have all it takes to defeat them’.
AUTHORITIES REACT
ACJOAU correspondent making enquiries at the Porter Lodge in the Hall of Residence learnt that the Cable Subscription in the Halls is handled by the Division of Student Affairs. They further explained that before the reinstatement of the Students’ Union, they were the ones that usually relay the state of the subscription to the management especially when it finishes. However, since the reinstatement, they have left the duties to the union to be in charge, and since the commencement of this session, nothing has been done in that regard.
At Fajuyi Hall, it was learnt that the Television at the porter’s lodge run on a GOTV subscription which the porters by themselves renew, and which is different from the usual DSTV subscription the management is supposed to handle.
Also, speaking with a hall warden at ETF, he explained that the television in the common room is under repair and that since the death of Okolie Arinze, the DSA has stopped making subscriptions for the television. He said that whenever there are important matches, students do come to watch the matches at the Porter’s Lodge. And that there’s no current plan or solution to that effect currently.
Saudiq Sumbade, Director of Sports, Great Ife Students’ Union, while speaking to ACJOAU, explained that the Halls of Residence must inform the DSA.
‘It is the Hall of Residence that takes care of this thing, and they are the ones to answer this. I will have to make a call to the sports secretaries of these three Halls of Residence, Angola, ETF, and Fajuyi Hall, to confirm, and if they have not done so, probably I will instruct them to do so before Monday, the 14th of January, runs out. Thank you for bringing to the notice of the union’, he said.
Director of Sports, ETF Hall, Omole Ademola, remarked that as he was told, it is the responsibility of the DSA to make the subscriptions. And that for the television, there is no alternative on the ground now than for students to either watch it at Awolowo Hall, Fajuyi Hall or Porter’s Lodge.
Efforts to reach the Fajuyi Hall Director of Sports proved abortive at the time of filing this report.