“’Prince of Monaco’!”, a tall beautiful waitress greeted Victor Ikpeba with a warm smile at the business lounge up on the 10th floor of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
We meet up for breakfast and what turns out to be deep reflection of the state of Nigerian football.
The 1997 CAF African Footballer of the Year still wears his dreadlocks, he is still easy going, like when we first met in the sleepy town of Bauchi in 1989.
Then Ikpeba was the boy his fellow Golden Eaglets had all picked to lead them to win U17 World Cup glory in Scotland.
We have since hooked up around the world including in Monaco around the time his playing days were winding down.
These days, ‘The Prince of Monaco’ is a media personality with cable television SuperSport.
He is also on the NFF technical committee, which has been saddled with the responsibility of advising the Nigerian football leadership on who should replace Jose Peseiro as the next Super Eagles coach.
The post of the Super Eagles head coach is one of the most high-pressured jobs around as Nigeria has over 200 million coaches with their opinion of who should play for the country’s team and even how they should play.
This past week the technical committee met in Abuja to shortlist a record number of applications for the post.
For Ikpeba, there are no anointed candidates.
“If the NFF had an anointed candidate, they would not have thrown open the selection. They would have quickly named such a coach and nothing would have happened,” he told me.
The committee he told me is advisory, but they will still do a good job notwithstanding various interests and influences that come with such a national assignment.
He said: “Social media will not pick a coach for Nigeria.
“There is a lot that has to be considered before you appoint a coach, you have to go beyond what many see or think.”
Ikpeba will maintain that the best man should get this job.
“It is not the colour of the skin of a coach that should be considered. We deserve a coach who will get us results,” he put up his position.
“Tribalism is one of the biggest problems in Nigeria. Can a local coach be above this problem?
“Yes, football unites the country, but we are a country of many tribes and whether we like it or not, we are often inclined to favour those from our tribes.”
He continued: “We first won the AFCON with a Brazilian (Otto Gloria), we then won it with another foreigner (Clemens Westerhof), before Keshi won it in 2013.
“We won the Olympics with a foreigner (Jo Bonfrere)
“Even Brazil have considered hiring a foreigner (Carlo Ancelotti) to lead their national team and a proud country like England have also hired foreigners to take charge of their team.”
Can the NFF afford another foreign coach after they struggled to pay Peseiro regularly?
“There are not many big coaching jobs available around the world and I know many of the foreign coaches who have applied for the super Eagles post will agree to take $40,000 or $50,000 every month,” he countered.
Ikpeba said he was shocked Peseiro did not continue in his post after guiding the country all the way to the 2023 AFCON final in Cote d’Ivoire.
“I was shocked he did not continue with us, but he must have his reasons,” he opened up.
“I may not have been a big fan of Peseiro, but he won my respect with the way he tweaked his defence to make it the strongest department of his team at the AFCON.
“Some have criticised the style that got us to the final, but even with our attacking football, how many times have we won the AFCON?
“It is not easy to win the AFCON these days because the so-called small teams are also pushing their weight around and if you don’t step up, they will go past you.
“Senegal won the 2021 AFCON, but could not reach such heights even with their beautiful football this year. Morocco recorded the best-ever African performance at the World Cup, but they also crashed out of the 2023 AFCON early.”
Peseiro’s assistant Finidi George will lead the Super Eagles for the friendlies against Ghana and Mali later this month in Morocco.
Ikpeba said that should be the case as it is done around the world, but he would have wanted more players from the domestic league on the squad.
“For the friendly against Ghana and Mali, I would have expected more players from the domestic league to be invited.
“We need to give these players a sense of belonging and also give them a chance to prove themselves.
“I was disappointed this was not the case.”
Even at 50, ‘The Prince of Monaco’ still shoots straight from the hips.
His autobiography to celebrate his 60th birthday will certainly be a very interesting read.
