The 2015 AFCON has ended but not the ignominy of Nigeria's failure to qualify for the competition. It is a shame the country will live with as long as it exists. So, how do we move forward from here? I offer the following suggestions:

a)KESHI MUST GO :The coach has demonstrated clearly that he does not have what it takes to lead the Super Eagles. His selections for the world cup and the AFCON qualifier did not inspire confidence and predictably, the team failed. Secondly, Keshi has not been able to deal with his Achilles 'heel-people management. He had issues with Adebayo in Togo. The same trend continued with Ike Uche. Thirdly, Keshi failed to learn about the S-curve theory of product/business life cycle. The theory stated that when a product/business is nearing a peak, innovations must be brought in, else the product/business will start to decline. The Super Eagles 'peak was the AFCON win, innovations were not brought in, so the team died.

b)NFF SHOULD GRADUALLY BECOME SELF-SPONSORING:Football is the most important sport in Nigeria and to think that Government will completely hands off football is a joke. However, the NFF must draw a long term plan to become self-sustaining and less dependent on government's patronage. If NFF is structured such that the board had to hustle to get funds from the private sector, you will be surprised how the court cases will die off as only those genuinely interested in developing Nigerian football will show interest.

c)YOUTH TEAM-OUR FUTURE:The future of the Super Eagles is the Under-17 team that won the last world cup. That is if the NFF wants to face the truth. We do not have a team right now with the current Super Eagles. The only exception in that team are Vincent Enyeama, Ahmed Musa and perhaps, Mikel Obi. After the Under-20 world cup, regardless of performance(we already know what these boys are capable of),Kelechi Iheanacho (it still baffles me that Keshi did not call up Kelechi for the world cup and the qualifiers) and his colleagues should be christened the new Super Eagles while the current under-17 team is moved to replace them. They might wobble and fumble ,but they WILL get it right.

d)A NEW COACH: We have to hire a coach for the Super Eagles as soon as possible. And we must forget about hiring a foreign coach. Keshi had demonstrated that an indigenous coach can deliver the goods. Personally, I prefer MANU GARBA to be the next Super Eagles coach. He had conquered the world with the youth team. I believe with the right support, he can lead the Super Eagles on the long-term. Another reason the NFF should consider him is that he is 100% home-grown. If he succeeds, it will be a pride to the country and to the world -at-large that Nigerian football has finally arrived.