Weighing govt’s sincerity: The Super Eagles’ experience

I must admit that I am not a sports enthusiast, but what concerns the success of my country in any sphere is my responsibility to promote and support, especially when our common resource is involved.

Following the Super Eagles’ opening match performance in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, many Nigerians threw invective on the players, and more, on the coach. Of course, it is normal for failure to attract stern criticisms and for success to require no explanation, but standing in- between winning and losing is more pathetic in my opinion. Looking at the potential of other contenders in Nigeria’s group (Argentina, Bosnia and Iran), it was widely believed that Iran would be a stepping stone even if Nigeria failed to win the others. Much to our dismay, the Super Eagles were held to a goalless draw with Iran. After the rain of insults and severe criticisms on the team, it was established, almost officially, that the Super Eagles didn’t put up their best performance. Why?

It was reported that before our opening match, the Senate President, David Mark, in company with a high-powered delegation from Nigeria, visited the Eagles’ camp in Brazil supposedly to motivate the players ahead of the encounter with Iran. It was also reported that some of the players displayed signs of impudence on account of unpaid bonuses and allowances. Mark then reportedly assured them that all bonuses and outstanding allowances would be paid soon, while the Super Eagles were then required to win the match.

In the peak of Nigerian fans’ disillusionment and lowly boosted morale, the Nigerian Football Federation Chairman, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, in the company with others which included Nwankwo Kanu, paid the Super Eagles a second visit; this time, with great tidings. It was at this second visit that the players were given cheques for their unpaid allowances during the Africa Cup of Nations held in January 2013, as well as title deeds for plots of land they were promised in Abuja. It was at this point that I transferred my aggression from the Super Eagles, and added ferocity to it before pushing it to the NFF and Federal Government. Their crime was that they employed their vainglorious bureaucratic bottlenecks, political gimmicks, even insincerity in the sponsorship of the Super Eagles.

I was forced to have a rethink over criticisms of the Super Eagles on their purported ‘appearance fee’ because it was not as though Nigeria could not afford it. The fact is, if these players are not being paid their stipulated allowances, one mugu, sitting in an air-conditioned office in Abuja or Lagos would divide the spoils among his cohorts in the NFF and Ministry of Sports while the team work themselves up in the scorching heat of Brazil. Indeed, some of the players are wealthy enough to sponsor the whole team for the period of the tournament, in view of the fact that what they receive in their European clubsides are incomparable to what their home country is giving them, but does that justify the nonpayment of promised allowances? What about the home-based players that were selected for the tournament? I mean those ones that earn less than N80,000 monthly and they are the bread winners of their families because football is employing them?

Now, this is the same country that basks in the recent glories of our footballers and their achievements are even being used as indices in preliminary campaigns for a “second term” for the President. In other words, these politicians see the victory of the Super Eagles as a translation of more votes in their favour in the upcoming elections.

The kind of insincerity meted out to the Super Eagles is the same kind of insincerity that confronts the educational sector, resulting in abundant bouts of strikes over the failure to meet 2009 agreements. And to the security agencies, resulting in insecurity and insurgency. It is high time we started removing those barring the chances of Nigeria’s success in all ramifications. The Super Eagles deserve our support, and even if they lose, we must push for them to be rewarded since the essence of the World Cup is not about winning; it is about ‘playing’ to promote global peace and unity.