“We started with an idea. We have built a platform. Now, we must build an institution.
“By Ibrahim Jatto | Chief Operating Officer, Kwara Kiddies League
There is something profoundly reassuring about the idea of moving forward.
Iwaju La Nlo! Forward Ever! It is a declaration of hope, a statement of direction and, perhaps more importantly, an acknowledgement that the future belongs to those who are willing to prepare for it.
But sometimes, moving forward is not about knowing exactly where the road ends. It is about having the courage to take the first step, even when the road ahead is obscured by uncertainty.
This is the story of the Kwara Kiddies League: an idea conceived by a few young people who looked at the foundation of Nigerian football and imagined that things could be different. We were not particularly interested in complaining about what was wrong. We were more interested in what could be built.
When we started in 2022, there was no financial comfort, no elaborate institutional machinery and certainly no guarantee that the idea would survive its first season. There were days when teams contributed just ₦500 to cater for referees’ indemnity.
It was football development in its most humble, almost improvised form. But ideas have a curious way of demanding more from those who believe in them. We kept organising, improvising, learning and improving. Today, the league pays match officials’ indemnities running into millions of naira.
What began as an attempt to create a structured competition has evolved into an organised grassroots football ecosystem, supported by sponsorship, partnerships and a growing network of people who believe in the possibilities of these children.
We now feed players, facilitate access to football boots and kits, and create opportunities that extend beyond the boundaries of a local competition.
Perhaps the most important part of this evolution is what has happened to the way we understand and document talent. Five seasons ago, our statistics were largely manual.
Tally sheets helped us record the stories unfolding on the pitch. Today, we have subscriptions to Eyeball and Wyscout, internationally recognised scouting and football intelligence platforms.
Kwara Kiddies League teams, like Busari FA and Gaa Akanbi, have established visibility on these platforms amongst European club gaints like Barcelona and Ajax while players are increasingly attracting scouting attention.
From the streets and communities of Ilorin, where football dreams once struggled to find a pathway, some of our players have travelled to Europe for opportunities with top teams, even at under-16 level.
In five seasons, we have built something that is often missing in the Nigerian grassroots football structure: a dependable record of players, their performances and their development. More than 500 players have passed through this growing system.
We have given the competition a predictable calendar, with the season commencing in May and the grand finale holding in December. For the children, this consistency matters. Development requires continuity, and continuity requires structure.
The journey has also begun to produce results beyond our league tables. Players developed through the KKL system have represented Nigeria at U15 and U17 levels.
Earlier this year, a selected KKL side travelled to Abuja for a friendly encounter against the national team. The same selected side embarked on a South-West tour, competing against established football sides and gaining valuable exposure.
These experiences are deliberate. We believe that grassroots development must go beyond discovering talented children; it must prepare them for the demands of competitive football at higher levels. Now, another chapter is opening.
Through the sponsorship of the Taiwo Awoniyi Foundation, a major scouting initiative is being developed to bring scouts from Europe to observe and assess these young talents.
It is an exciting prospect, but it is also a continuation of an ambition that has existed since the earliest days of the league: to make talent from our communities visible to the world.
Looking back, perhaps the most remarkable thing is not how much money the league now handles, how many teams participate or how many players have attracted attention.
It is how far an idea has travelled. We started with an ambition to change the experience of children playing grassroots football in Kwara.
Along the way, we discovered that we were building something much bigger: a system, a culture and a development pathway. We have moved perhaps ten years ahead of the timeline we imagined when we first conceived the project.
We could not have predicted all the possibilities that have emerged in just five seasons. Yet, we are conscious that the distance covered must never become an excuse to slow down.
There is still much to learn, many more children to reach and a greater football development structure to build.This is why Iwaju La Nlo resonates so deeply with our story.
Forward Ever is not simply about celebrating the distance travelled. It is about understanding that every milestone creates a new responsibility. The ₦500 indemnity contribution was a beginning, not a destination.
The tally sheets were a beginning, not a destination. The first player to travel abroad was a beginning, not a destination. Even the arrival of international scouts will be another beginning.
Our ambition is to build a grassroots football institution that can outlive its founders, preserve the records of its players and consistently create opportunities for generations yet unborn. We started with an idea. We have built a platform. Now, we must build an institution.
Five seasons have taught us that the future does not arrive by accident; somebody must have the audacity to imagine it and the discipline to work towards it. We imagined it in Ilorin.
We are beginning to see it unfold. And for everything that lies ahead, there is only one direction. IWAJU LA NLO!