Last year was a lean year for Nigerian sport, with the major highlight being Victor Osimhen becoming the first man in 15 years to claim the African Footballer of the year title.
And of course, the Super Falcons stirred hearts again at the FIFA Women's World Cup by advancing to the knockouts and nearly defeating England.
Outside of that, it was the usual tale of bickering, near misses and scandals. In 2024, can Nigerian fans dream of at least some turnaround in fortunes? Let's predict.
Osimhen to win the CAF award again
When it has been so long since the last Nigerian won Africa's top men's prize, surely a country with the footballing status of Nigeria deserves to do a repeat?
Injuries have limited Osimhen's contributions so far this season for Napoli, but the forward has shown remarkable ability to bounce back from adversity to make a success of the time he has.
With the Africa Cup of Nations kicking off in mid-January, and World Cup qualifiers to come, we should expect the Napoli man, who top scored with 10 goals in qualifying, to repeat as tournament top shot and then follow that up with leading the pack in World Cup qualifying.
Another burst of goals to propel Napoli to the title, and help them see off Barcelona and go on to win the UEFA Champions League would all but see him lock things up very nicely. Not to mention helping Nigeria to win their third AFCON title.
Olympic gold for Tobi Amusan
Ranked number 1 in 2023 in the 110m hurdles, Amusan already holds the world record for the event, has won the Diamond League title three times consecutively from 2021 to 2023, won Commonwealth gold twice and was World Champion in 2022.
This is not even adding her streak of African titles. Amusan is without a doubt, one of the top three hurdlers in the world. Going to Paris, it should not be too much to expect that she will be one of Nigeria's best hopes to win a gold medal.
Amusan will be one of the favourites in Paris so any doubters would do well to read up what she has already accomplished.
Nigeria's D'Tigress to feature in Paris
There is still a long road ahead, but Nigeria's women's basketball team have shown that they thrive under the longest of odds.
Having battled their way to a fourth Afrobasket title on the bounce, D'Tigress have Olympic qualification as their next target. They will take part in a series where they have been grouped with world number one USA, and also Belgium and Senegal.
Two teams are expected to advance from their group, which play their qualifying games in Belgium in early February. D'Tigress have already beaten Senegal and will be confident of a repeat. They also have a good chance of beating the hosts Belgium.
Making it to the Games will make up in some way for it World Cup miss, when they were withdrawn by the former Sports Minister as a result of the crisis in the NBBF.
But why stop at just qualifying. Nothing would salve the pain of missing out on the World Cup more than getting on the podium in Paris, and these players can do it.
Please, let Nigerian basketball find peace
Speaking of basketball, can we just have an end to this crisis in 2024, please! The rift between leadership factions is going on seven years.
The damage to the sport has been immense, the latest being the men's team failing to even make it past the qualifying rounds for the Olympic Games, even though they hosted the tournament in Nigeria.
This has been going on for way too long and it is time all parties to this dispute find a way to put their own interests and ego aside and resolve it once and for all in order to move the sport forward.
Super Eagles to secure African title again
This year will technically be the 10th anniversary of Stephen Keshi leading the Super Eagles to win their third African title, 30 years since the Super Eagles won their second title in 1994.
Although this year's tournament is being played in 2024, it is technically the 2023 AFCON, so we can take some liberties there. But it will be exactly 30 years to the year since Nigeria's famous Class of 94 won that tournament and went on to wow the world at the World Cup in USA.
Additionally, it's been 20 years since Enyimba won the CAF Champions League title they won for the first time in 2003. No Nigerian team, before or since, have won Africa's flagship club competition.
What a remarkable story it would be if the the Super Eagles marked those two triumphs with another, and the People's Elephant, under the leadership of former Arsenal man Nwankwo Kanu, a UEFA Champions League winner himself, do the same to bring the continental trophy home again.