Nigeria appear to have decided to recruit a foreign coach to manage the Super Eagles after all.
"The president has given his approval for us to hire a foreign coach for the team," sports minister Stephen Akiga said on Thursday.
"It is an undisputable fact that, for our players to effectively reproduce their club form and high-quality performance for the national team, they need to be supported with higher technical guidance comparable to what they get at their clubs."
Speaking to BBC Sport Online, Taiwo Ogunjobi, secretary-general of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) said they would now consider which foreign coach would best suit their needs.
"I intend to call a meeting of the NFA board, hopefully within the next two weeks, so we can decide on the type of foreign coach that would be good for us," Ogunjobi said.
Before the sports minister's announcement, Ogunjobi said that the NFA had opened negotiations with Adegboye Onigbinde to remain as the Super Eagles coach.
Onigbinde had been favoured to keep his job
This followed comments from Nigeria's President, Olusegun Obasanjo, that he had confidence in the ability of indigenous coaches to manage the national team.
But Ogunjobi has now confirmed that, as expected, Onigbinde will return to his position as the NFA Technical Director.
Onigbine's appointment as the Super Eagles coach had always been seen as a temporary arrangement to see the team through the World Cup finals.