Nigeria's military ruler, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, this week kicked off a campaign to proclaim the World Under-20 Championship a success - more than a month before a ball is due to be kicked.
Football chiefs and military men were treated to a spectacle of dancers and speeches about the wonders of "Nigeria 99". And then the lights went out. Nigeria's notoriously unreliable electricity company had struck again.
General Abubakar was livid. "We can't have this," he boomed.
Nigeria is desperate to make a success of the championship, in part as a showcase for its bid to host the 2006 World Cup, but the persistent criticism from English clubs over security, medical facilities and disorganisation has angered the Nigerians. Leeds United this week said that it will refuse to release its English and Irish players to take part in the tournament.
Paul Bassey, spokesman for the Nigeria 99 organisers, is scornful. "We have foreigners working in this country. We don't hear of them being slaughtered on the streets. They drink our water, they eat our food, they use our hospitals. All this talk about Nigeria being bad for your health is ridiculous. It's particularly surprising coming from our former colonial masters."
FIFA pulled the youth championship out of Nigeria four years ago, ostensibly because of health and security concerns under the previous, particularly brutal, military regime. This time the Nigerians want no such humiliation. They have been working to upgrade stadiums and hotels since August, when a FIFA team rejected facilities at five of the eight venues: Bauchi, Calabar, Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Lagos.
Last year a FIFA health team criticised emergency medical and laboratory facilities as inadequate at all the match venues. The inspectors described some of the hotels as "a shadow of their former selves".
The government says it has spent more than £370 million to meet FIFA's requirements. Hotels have been spruced up. Hospitals have been fitted with new equipment.
FIFA says it can see the results of Nigerian efforts and has endorsed the preparations except for a few "little problems". It describes continuing concerns over poor health facilities and security as "imaginary".
The Nigerians say they are taking elaborate precautions to cocoon the players. Bassey says that when they leave Lagos airport they will be escorted by armed outriders to protect their cars. From then on they will never be alone.
Nigeria is also keen to project a picture of political stability. Today's presidential election could change that if it is seen to be tainted by fraud or produces an upset victory for the underdog opposition candidate. But it seems unlikely there would be enough upheaval to upset the championship.
Bassey argues that what is good enough for FIFA should be good enough for everyone else, and questions why English clubs are kicking up the most fuss. "We're not leaving everything in the hands of Nigerians, not because they're not capable but because it's a FIFA competition," he said.
The military government concedes that there are still problems. This week it criticised the slow pace of work by the company contracted to upgrade the national stadium in Lagos, which will host the final.
Hotels are the other headache for the organisers, with FIFA setting standards of accommodation way above some British boarding schools.
The President Hotel in Port Harcourt is a grubby, dilapidated affair. There is little evidence of maintenance since it was built in the Sixties. Even the furniture looks as if it belongs to a scene from The Avengers.
The swimming pool is a breeding ground for various tropical diseases. When it was drained three years ago the remaining sludge was so deep it had to be shovelled out.
Disorganisation is in the nature of the country, but it will be more than compensated for by the enthusiasm and hospitality of ordinary Nigerians who are mad about football.
