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Monday night's crowning of Samuel Eto'o as African Footballer of the Year by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) brought up the tally of Cameroonian victories to be at par with Nigeria's. Both countries have now won the title five times each.

However, while Nigeria's accolades are spread over four players, namely Rasheed Yekini, Emmanuel Amuneke, Victor Ikpeba and Nwankwo Kanu (twice), Cameroon's have been won by just two. Cameroon can thank Patrick Mboma and Samuel Eto'o, whose victory last night was the fourth player of the year crown of his very interesting career.

Even though Nigeria holds the joint honour of highest wins, her fortunes have been poor of late. After a time of dominance of the awards in the 1990s, Nigerian players have become outsiders when it comes to the big prize since the turn of the century. They have been content to look on from the sidelines as players from smaller countries have taken the center stage.

Since the failed attempts of midfield legend, Austin Okocha, in the middle of this decade, Nigerian players have watched the Ivory Coast won it twice through Didier Drogba, Senegal twice through El Haji Diouf, Mali through Freddie Kanoute and little Togo via Emmanuel Adebayor (whose parents are Yoruba from Nigeria). Three of those countries have never won the African Cup of Nations.

So what has happened to Nigerian footballers since the turn of the century after the brilliant run of that golden generation?

Perhaps, the simplest excuse will be that they have gone to sleep. But that will be too simple an explanation. So, we need to find a more scientific explanation.

Since Yekini's triumph in 1993 when he played at little Vitoria Setubal in the Portuguese league, every other winner has played in the top four leagues in Europe; Spain, England, Italy, Germany.

With the exception of Kanu, who won it the first time after his impressive '96 Olympic showing while at Ajax in the Netherlands, Abedi Pele of Marseille in '92 and Ikpeba in '97 at Monaco in France, every other winner has come from the top leagues of England (seven), Spain (five) and Italy (three).

It's a sad fact that many of Nigeria's best talents play outside of these leagues. Players who in the bid to rush to Europe to make ends meet take the most available offers from third tier European leagues in Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Israel etc in the hope that they'll be able to make the move across to bigger clubs in future. Sadly, many never get to do such, thereby failing to fulfill their potentialities.

However, the biggest blame must be placed on the doorstep of the Nigerian Football Federation in the way it has handled the affairs of the national team, the Super Eagles. The team has failed to resonate with fans because of poor performances in major tournaments in recent years.

Any player who wants to win the player of the year award must be a high performer at a big club and must also have a strong national team to back up his suitability. It may still be a long time before a Nigerian player hugs the limelight again. That player must be able to play a big part in his club winning a big four league title, the European Champions League, and measurable success with the Super Eagles.

The stakes are definitely much higher now than in the days of Yekini, Amuneke and Ikpeba. Will the real deal Nigerian super star please stand up?

“We will rise again,” I hear them say. Surely, Hope is a Nigerian.