it's an international tournament and not your everyday owambe  [color=#990000][/color]

There more pressing issues in this country than this international tournament.
I'm very skeptical about the proper use of that fund if eventually realeased.
Trust Nigerians, every open door is an opportunity.
LOOOOTERs of the highest order.

Absolutely ridiculous and pathetic!

Did they not plan and forecast for tough times when bidding?

All the money they spent on bidding and preliminary preparation has now gone down the drains

Surely some idiots should have known better that the money might not be there to host the competition

What a shame

Where is the COJA account?\
How much did we spend?
How much did we receive?

What do we stand to gain by just hosting an agent for hosting seek?
we are no more the big wasting brother of africa.
These are questions we should be asking, we should not be sentimental.

Everyone supporting the president's decision should please stop being irrational and think objectively. This doesn't speak well for us in the community of nations, it also labels us as backwards and unethical.

We made a bid to host this tournament, we didn't stop. We won the bid to host this tournament - we kept pushing on. One year into the tournament, we decide to punk out. Shame on Nigeria!

Someone brought up Niger bridge or something like that. The money is not going towards Niger bridge, it's going into importing furnitures, electronics and health care for the fools in power.

in my own opinion, i am in total support of the President though i wish we had hosted the championship but 30 million dollars is too much money to just go down the drain like that. we all know our leaders, i am very sure the total amount needed to stage the under 17 world cup might not be up to half of that amount we all know what happened during COJA. let that money be use for better purposes. but if Hayatu is disappointed then let his country Cameroon to stage the event, we no want host again na by force? fifa sef go understand

in my own opinion, i am in total support of the President though i wish we had hosted the championship but 30 million dollars is too much money to just go down the drain like that. we all know our leaders, i am very sure the total amount needed to stage the under 17 world cup might not be up to half of that amount we all know what happened during COJA. let that money be use for better purposes. but if Hayatu is disappointed  then let his country Cameroon to stage the event, we no want host again na by force? fifa sef go understand

This is another attempt by the Nigerian government to hood-wink us to distraction.

How is it possible that more than a year after we were given the rights to host the world cup, we have suddenly come to our senses and realized that there are no good roads in Nigeria, that people have been struggling to put a meal on the table for more than 30 years, that jobs are scarce, etc.?

In the world of civilized people, you cannot just wake up one morning and decide to cancel a world tournament you agreed to host (without coersion, I might add) because "there are more pressing issues". We took the time to prepare a bid and the statement at the time - "it has enjoyed the support of the presidency".

If Yar Adua did not like the idea at the time he came to power, he could have called time on it early enough before the rights were given to us. FIFA will now have to go begging some other nation to host this tournament and there will be no end to the consequences that'll follow from this one superficial decision from Yar Adua's government.

This will not only impact on Nigeria's ability to bid on future tournaments (for at least 30 years), but our standing in the world will be affected (and also among African nations).

I don't believe we are so poor that we cannot afford $34 million to host a tournament. Granted, it would have been a waste of resources because as someone rightly pointed out, we are the only country on earth who never seem to make a profit from hosting these events.

But the question is: Why has this decision been made this late?

FIFA were happy with our preparations, so it's not like the project was not looking good.
We were sending positive vibes to the rest of the world all the time.

So why has this decision been made at this time?

I'm totally against frivolous spending, but I'm also completely against not keeping your word. It would have been better to keep our word this one time and desist from getting involved with hosting rights for the forseeable future.

This should have been an opportunity to truly showcase the best of Nigeria to the rest of the world (like China did with the last olympics), if Yar Adua was serious about "pressing issues" in Nigeria.

They've been preaching about tourism for God-knows-how-long. How about using this tournament to showcase sites like Tinapa and other viable tourism investments to potential investors?

I'm not falling for it - This decision has been made out of greed (some people don't stand to gain as much as they initially thought) and not out of consideration for the plight of Nigerian people.
You cannot say you are trying to work for the people and at the same time, try to harrass and intimidate them to submission (as is the case with Channels TV and the Elendu fellow).

With or without hosting the U17 world cup, Naija remains the same.
Our problem is enormous and can not be solved by mere accepting/refusing
the hosting right. Let's pray that our leaders should look at real issues &
be objective while making decisions.

Let this money be used judiciously for developmental work and not for pocketmental work.

pie1ect:


But the question is: Why has this decision been made this late?

Credit Crunch

I think it is a sound decision. How is hosting the tournament going to change the lives of common people in Nigeria?? The said money could be used somewhere else. What happened to the Nigeria '99 which the world barely knew about?

Please ,this should not be an issue,it simply shows that the president is weak and has no grip on how to run the country,fine and good 30mill usd is a whole lot of money ,but if we dont spend it hosting the world in the youth tournament it will still end up in the pockets of the politicians,kai this people una go kill us o.Umaru which way nigeria,Baba SOS.

well dat is an outrageous amount so to speak, corruption has been the brain of Nigeria, public office holders are criminals, instead of serving the people, they serve their pockets and foreign bank accounts, the witdrawalfrom hosting the event has two faces, 1) its embarrasing that bearly a yr to the hosting of the event, we backed out, do you still remember the hosting of the miss world peagent that was stripped off us at the last minutes and on the other hand, its thumps up to the presidency for declaring a true state of our rich yet poverty sricken country, imagine spending that bogus amount on a month long event when the citizens are languising in acute poverty and wretchedness, well, the government has also given the private sector a free hand to do whatsoever to they like unlike in other countries that private companies bids to bankroll national teams to sports competition, whichever we see it, its still something to cheer about, we can't pretend to be what we are not so i commend the presidency to leaving the competition in the hands of the private and if nothing can be done about it, then FIFA should find an alternative.

I think we really need to think deeply and reflect our thoughts so passionately about this issue. We must be realistic otherwise we would continue to fool ourself the more . The question is how long would this need to continue,
I think we need to understand that spending $34million to host the world cup in the midst of abject poverty coupled with the global econmic recession , which, has seriously affected Nigeria just in case you dont know is really something that should be thoroughly questioned.

we must ask and must also be able to distinguish between the COST and BENEFIT of hosting the Game. Frankly speaking, the COST ($34million)of hosting this game in the midst of dilapidated ROADS and infrastructural decadence couple with the Almighty NEPA is FAR more than the BENEFIT in terms of just massing the EGO of NIGERIANS even in the midst of these aforementioned and other problem which you and i knows.

Finally, everybody should seriously reflect on this question, Has there been RECORDS in the past games hosted to ANALYSE AND PUBLISH HOW MUCH recovered hosting the previous GAMES?

This is is just purely another white elephant project which the sycophants feel they would be able to milk the wealth of this nation,

Lol i am totally in support of the decision especially after reading the article below.

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/oct/23/12.html

Wow!!!!It is really interesting that Our government made such an imprompt and disgraceful decision and some narrow-minded people are here justifying this unreasonable decision.Which way Nigeria We have lost our sense of reasoning,shame,and sense honour.Are we thinking of going foward or backward.Some young players sacrifies their lives to merit this honour of hosting right,which we jst threw overnight.Is $30millon dollars up to a single transfer which some governors make into their personal foriegn account.

We are crying of development,how again can our govenment be forced into development if not for hosting all these world events.A staduim built or renovated  for the cause of this tournament remains an assets to the Nigerians,A road built for this cuase  remains a credit to us.I see  people here taking abt bad roads,No electricity and all that,but forgeting that the only way our government  can be forced into  fixing up these things is by having such an intenational gatherings in Nigeria regularly.A man who alwayas expect Visitor must try as possible as he could to put his house in order no matter how poor he is.Go to Beijing China today and see how the rebuilt the city cause of the Olympic.They Also spent billions of dollars on it not out of supplucity.Those development(Infrastructures) didnt vanished after the Olympics.There are still there as the national assets and for the country's credits.

Omg When shall we think of moving that country forward?This is a right which we are jst being denied, this time not by FIFA but by our own government.If FIFA had denied us this right when we bided for it ,the same Nigerians would count it as unfair and maginalization against africans.

We lost the right to host beauty peagants in Nigeria for no reason,Now our hosting right for Under- 17 World Cup again is being lost for no reason.That is why we would Always remain where we are,Cos our leaders has lost their sense of development and greatness.They no dey shame any longer.

@Pie1ect

I agree totally. People should stop moaning about $30million being too much. That amount is not too much for a country of Nigeria's ilk. Instead of them to use this opportunity to build infrastructure up to world standards, public transport, good roads etc. they are pathetically moaning about priorities and at the same time ruining Nigeria' global image

It really isn't about the money but about the gross incompetency and severe inability of the Nigerian government to actually take a budget, stick to it and at the same time build infrastructure which would aid the hosting of such events which would also benefit the people in the long term.

@PrinceKevo

You said it better than I could.

Why did we choose to host this thing in the first place?? We are not a rich country at all (and don't even think that because we have oil makes us rich, Nigeria is only the 7th largest producer of oil in the world, Saudi and Iran produce waaaaaaaaaaaaay more than us).

Now back to what we were saying, how could they chose to host a tournament like this when we have one of the worst public school systems in the world, pathetic health care system that ranks us as having one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. No constant electricity which shatters any hope of becoming an industrialized nation, and the list goes on and on and we are thinking of hosting a tournament for a sport were adults run around kicking a leather ball and falling at a slight push pretending to have a serious injury and minutes later are running full speed like nothing ever happened. Arrant Nonsense.

This is further confirmation of the indecisive mind of our president. Why couldn't we asess the situation, "COSTS AND BENEFITS" before now.

Ok, assuming we got the hosting rights for 2014 commonwealth games, we would wake up in 2012 and say we have vision 2020 to meet and Abuja 2014 can not be located in the vision document.

And what's the talk about using the funds to improve infracstructure and the economy. Does it mean that we have not been accrueing funds since 2007. Has anything improved.

This is just sad!

Let us wait and see what they will now do with the money, let see if our road will now be in good shape, let see if we will now have constant electricity, let see if our health care will be in perfect condition and if they will not use the money to travel abroad for medical check-up, let see if the politicians will stop embezzle our money. Sport is one thing that keep Nigerians together and if they kill it it is left to them.

They bidded for it and they have started the preparation all of a sudden they realised they can not host it. Let see if Nigeria will now change.

Attention all Football addicts !!!

For once in our miserable live time as a country, a president is able to say the bitter truth; LOC should source the funding from the private sector, and if they can't ? ,  no show

$300m from FG allocation i'm sure can do any of these :

build factories and create lasting jobs, not spurious overinflated contracts for a one time event.

build an international standard hospital, well equipped so that the president doesn't have to escape to Europe to save his life when he has a headache  

Electrify the remaining rural areas of at least one geopolitical zone, think about that

build new roads and repair damaged one within at least one geopolitical zone, so that agricultural products could flow freely from the rural areas to urban, and the urban areas will actually look urban and not concrete jungles.

i can go on and on and list more and more

Nigerian kids need education not funfair, the disillusioned graduates roaming the streets need jobs, not sporting jamboree, industries are the things that develop a country not staduims, please!!!

Some people talked about Nigerias image, chei !! addiction of any  kind is dangerous, which image eeeehhh!!!!, oh i forgot, a football drunk  image can actually suppress, suffocate, and tactically erase the bad roads+darkness+water scarcity+fuel scarcity+drug scarcity+human rights abuse+food scarcity+inflation+witchcraft+terrorism+ ,  + hell , + etc image.

if you guys need this tourney so much than your necessary food, please zukkymike+RSA+galactico+princekevo+n-guage+elosela can conviniently donate $50m each to LOC and stop blasting our ears with bullshit !!! if you guys move fast we can still recover the hosting rights.

i think the presidents decision to withdraw was wise,as in come to think of it,we have more serious issues to spend money on.but my problem is,why did we agree to host in the first place

it is a case of a fake party(pdp) with a fake president(yar adua) who is giving a fake reason for fake decissions.
assuming we have better things to do with the sum of $30million, what are those things and what have we done since we have not been hosting the under 17 world cup.
billions were collected from the abachas and yet not changed in nigeria for good.
take the senators unaware on a friday evening and see if you will not get us$30million from them.
is yar adua asking nigerians to choose between good roads and hosting world cup? if he asking us to choose between security and hosting of the world cup?
the president whls come out and tell nigerians that which is more important than the hosting of the under 17 world cup.
nigerians shld be able to know what the are trading in for the hosting of the world cup.
at the end of the day, changing furnitures in the senators residence or sponsoring a trip for the president's medical check up could be the more important issues here.
football is one of the games that is keeping nigerians moving. let them go ahead and host it with us$30 and share the rest of the money and among them as usual.
within their one year in office, who among the senators or other federal politicians is not richer with us$50million.
what is us$30million to compare with the image of nigeria.
the shameless group are afraid of the revelations that this hosting will expose nigeria to.
let the whole world come and see how we are in nigeria with the level of oil and other mineral resources God has blessed us with.
at least, players and officials must be rubbed, there must be nepa timeouts in and off the picth. nigerian police must arrest them for illegal laughing arround the stadium.
if anyone here has the money, i beg him or her to pls host the tournament so that we will show the world that we are not a third world country as they think.

The Mistake we some of us make is assuming that the 30million would actaully be used for national development. tell you what there is no guarantee that would be the case. in my IMHO i would rather the government spend it on hosting the U17 which would in turn help build some stadiums,improve some infrastructures, and generally put NIgeria in the positive news for a while. yes we have a poor maintenance and the stadias would be left to rot anyway. but better that than for the money to end up in some sick presidents will.
i have a feeling the decision was influenced by the sudden downfall of the price or oil. which nigeria's budget is tided to. if that is the case then i guess it might be a good decision after all

[size=8pt]well its not all bad news look on d brightside if d private sector could pull it off they have much 2 gain especially companies whos stocks are listed if u know what i mean, its even better this way u know how govnment stuff is,if some private companes can do it,others will come in and govment can lay back,then can 9ja b called a real capitalist economy.my only stress is dat dey came out 2 say it alittle late,look at how they abandoned d stockmarket.[size=8pt][[/size]/size]

Gytee and co am very much disappointed in ur comments,
as far as nigerians are concerend ,sports is the only consolation
to the undue bad leadership of this great nation.

where are the 1.65 billion naira from nnpc,557.million police equipment fund, 16billion dollars power generation fund,800 million naira.550million and 70million dollars for the rail ways. just to mention a few.
my brothers not hosting this event does not in any way top our leaders and govt to stop lutting our money.

why did china not reject the hostin of the olympic because they want to feed their teaming population?
pleasei beg u to stop calling sports rat chasing and what have u.

AT LEAST OUR VISITORS WILL HELP US TALK TO OUR LEADERS
AFTER SEEING THE INFRASTRUCTUAL DEGREDATION.
WE ARE TIRED OF TALKING AN CRYING ,THEY SHOULD COME AND SEE THE
LARGEST AND MOST POPULOUS BLACK NATION IN THE WORLD AND THEIR UN ENDING SHAME
AND DISGRACE.
MAN I CANNOT POUR ALL MY MIND HERE.
YARADULL IS CONFUSED.ITS A PITY.

Despite the fact that the money is huge, is it more than the monthly estacodes spent by the wives of our frivolous officials in latest fashion, cosmetic surgery etc. Will refusing to host the world stop the 100% increase in salaries of political appointees while teachers await their rewards in heaven?

Brothers, lets face it, the amount we lose each day to corruption is far less than the benefits we stand to derive from hosting the world. Heard we are bidding for the commonwealth games? We again are making fun of ourselves.

Mr president
You are very correct. we have a lot to do with such amount not hosting some World event that will create more avenue for corruption .

if the private sector can't invest in this grassroot sporting event, then lets forget about hosting it, do you want the eyes of the whole world to see our yarnsh? nothing is 100% working in nigeria, so what do we have to use in boasting to the whole world?? abeg, can that money be used to give scholarship to youth seeking to enter universities with no money to attend??

well its not a prority, but at least jobs will be creatd, this year budget was 2 trillion have you noticd anything apart from recurrent expenditure which project have you noticed in your enviroment. the arewa click don't believe in privatisation because its a veritable source of employement, goverment controls everything and all the money is used ion paying salaries and 4 greasng themselves with fertlizer schemes , govs and politcians are stealing the money. if crude oil prices continue to go down i really fear for our dear country

which kind of employment is that? abeg, which solid employment did Nigeria 99 and coja bring to better Nigeria? rather, it made few richer and alot poorer,,let them use that $34 billion naira to create visible jobs for the citizens, fix electricity and introduce water transportation so that the roads can resurrect again,

It is quiet unfortunate that this is coming out of most infoprenuers and this commitee, that is a disgrace to us as a country, but the truth of the matter is that Yoruba people will say "ILE LA NWO KATO SOMOLORUKO", let's talk of it, the country so-called Nigeria is the giants of Africa as been said but the giantness could not been seen in our day to day routines, our educational system is nothing to write home about, people graduated from higher institutions no job, nothing to show for their labor, no light for people who need it most for their daily business, even our economy is turning upside down, where are we going? Let us have a rethink. My People don't let us decieve ourselves, we need prayers in our country and I believe the Lord is on the throne and He is ready to come into the situation of the country. What we need now is prayer, I believe prayers will help the country from what has been setting her back from rising, now talking of hosting the under 17 World Cup, it is a good thing to be done in our dear country, as I have said earlier, we should pray for her and the leaders because even, the so called politicians can say they are ready to pay for the events, but because of their selfish ambitions and self centredness they will keep the money to themselves and their family, the Lord is still on the throne, He will judge everybody according to his/her deed weather good or bad, watch it. GOD BLESS NIGERIA AMEN.