Former Super Eagles goalkeeper Aloy Agu has called for a comprehensive rebuilding of Nigerian football from the grassroots, insisting that sustained investment in schools, universities and football academies is essential to restoring the country’s status as a major force in African and world football.
Agu believes Nigeria must return to the development structures that produced generations of talented players and helped the country achieve some of its greatest international successes.
“It has to start from the grassroots. Primary school, secondary school, university, and also, you go to the academy, and then you get the right people in there,” Agu said.
“Make sure everything is monitored because we are talking about a nation that has won the Nations Cup three times and the Olympic gold medal.”
Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1980, 1994 and 2013, while the country’s historic triumph at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics made it the first African nation to win men’s Olympic football gold.
Agu stressed that those achievements were built on a strong domestic foundation, recalling how his own career developed through Nigerian clubs before he moved abroad.
“I didn’t go outside to play from my youth. I started from ITT, NEPA of Lagos, ACB of Lagos to BCC Lions of Gboko. Then I was ready to go out,” he explained.
The former goalkeeper subsequently played in the Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey and the United States, but maintained that his development in Nigeria prepared him for those opportunities.
“We can always do well if we continue to follow the same routine that gave us those talents,” he added.
Agu also urged football administrators to prioritise proper monitoring and ensure qualified personnel oversee talent development at every level.
Using the analogy of a tree, he argued that a strong foundation would ultimately produce better footballers and improved international results.
“When the root is very solid, then you can know that the branches are going to yield the right fruits,” Agu said.
For Agu, Nigerian football’s revival must begin long before players reach the Super Eagles. The path back to success, he insists, starts with rebuilding the structures that discover and develop them.
