One of my favourite sports is athletics. Throughout the month of May, I was glued to the television watching the International Athletics Federation Diamond League athletics meets held in several cities across the world. It is always a delight watching elite athletes burning the tracks winning laurels and bringing glory to themselves and countries. But that is not the main story.
My concern watching the meets was not just the absence of Nigerians athletes competing with other world class professionals. Indeed, many Nigerians competed in the various tournaments except that they did not wear the green and white jersey nor wave the national flag. The Nigerians who competed in the meets flew the flags of their adopted countries.
Watching the tournaments confirmed what has been a trend for some time now. Many young Nigerian athletes and other professionals are dumping the country to realise their dreams in other climes. At the meets, I observed how many young Nigerian-born athletes had taken up citizenship of other countries and proudly carried the flags of their adopted nations.
The question that came to mind as I watched these Nigerians compete for other nations was: Why are more Nigerians dumping our country for other nations? I quite understand that it is possible to naturalise having stayed in adopted countries for some years, but the rate Nigerians are opting to compete for other nations point to a more underlying problem beyond just the issue of dual citizenship. Many Nigerians have long lost faith in their country.
There is nowhere this is more noticeable than in sports. In football, we have seen how young Nigerians are shunning the country to play for other countries. The situation is the same for other sports. Some years ago, a celebrated Nigerian athlete, Francis Obikwelu, who had represented Nigeria in athletics later, chose to run for Portugal. Born in Onitsha, Obikwelu decided to run for the European country.
The news of Obikwelu’s defection was broken in 2000 by the Nigerian sprinter, Mercy Nku, who like Obikwelu was based in Lisbon, the Portuguese capital. Nku said Obikwelu took the decision because of neglect by Nigerian sports officials when he was injured while representing Nigeria at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. According to Nku: “Obikwelu had to go to Canada to undergo an operation on his knee spending his own money.” After which, he became a Portuguese citizen in 2001.
Before Obikwelu, there had been other neglected athletes and sundry sporting personalities. Many of them wallow in abject poverty today having been neglected by the Nigerian sports authorities. The most memorable was the sudden death of Samuel Okwaraji in August 1989 while playing for the Super Eagles at the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos. The hardworking playmaker, who was also a qualified lawyer with Master’s degree in international law from the University of Rome, collapsed and died of heart failure at a World Cup qualification match against Angola in 1989.
Since his death, the story of how his immediate family has been neglected by the Federal Government is still being told. It is sad the way Nigeria treats her heroes. The disregard for the labour of our heroes past is the reason why Nigerians lack patriotism for the country. Yet, our leaders demand patriotism and loyalty from the citizens. How we expect people to be patriotic when those who have dedicated their entire lives and still do have nothing to show for it beggars belief. Consider the manner our footballers are treated for example. Once a footballer is injured, the NFF turns the other eye. For years, we have all grown accustomed to how our country treats the citizens.
While those who have served the country with all their might are used and dumped, those who have stolen the country blind are celebrated and treated like royalty. That is why today, many young Nigerians prefer to stay outside the country where their skills are better appreciated. That is why at this year’s IAAF athletics meet, many Nigerians were competed for other nations. I suspect this will be the new trend as our country’s sport administrators continue to place their selfish interest over the welfare of the athletes.
Nothing demonstrates the insensitivity of our country to her heroes like the death in quick succession of two of our country’s best football heroes, Stephen Keshi and Shuaibu Amodu. Both former coaches and brought glories to Nigeria football. Take the case of Amodu who coached the national team, qualified us for the World Cup on two occasions in 2002 and 2010 and died without his entitlements paid to him. At his death, Amodu, who was the Technical Director of our national teams, was still being owed by the NFF.
Amodu’s cousin said at this death: “I think he died out of frustration because his financial status was not okay. He was complaining of not being paid and he was having difficulties to maintain himself and his immediate family. I think the purpose of his being in Benin was to put up a bill for his payment. He is being owed by the NFF and the Edo State Government.” Keshi, who died earlier before Amodu, was also owed a backlog of salaries. This was despite the fact he was the first indigenous coach to win the African Nations Cup for Nigeria. Both men, who represented Nigeria’s best football coaches died, carrying the pain of serving an ungrateful nation to their graves.
Before he resigned early this year, Sunday Oliseh, a former Super Eagles coach, also complained about unpaid wages. It is only in Nigeria that the government will make promises and not keep them. Many Nigerian sports heroes who were made promises of monetary and housing gifts by the government are still waiting several years after. Some of them have even died while waiting for promises that would never be fulfilled. The shabby manner we treat our heroes cuts across other areas of our national life.
Today, pensioners who have served the country under various capacities are denied their pension. They are living a life of destitution while civil servants at the Pension boards are feeding off senior citizens pensions. A recent landmark corruption case revealed how billions in the pension fund was stolen by corrupt civil servants while ex-service men, retired civil servants queue for years and even die in the process of collecting their dues.
Sometimes, I wonder if we are not chasing shadows fighting corruption. How do we expect civil servants not to be corrupt when they know a bleak future awaits them when they retire? When those in service are not sure of being paid their pension on retirement, why won’t they steal enough for the rainy day?
Our leaders must appreciate our heroes when they are alive. This will encourage Nigerians to be patriotic.
PUNCH
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