Article published in The Nation Newspaper

30/06/2010

Now that we have lost out at the World Cup 2010, being unsuccessful at ‘Nigeria’s best and favourite game’, Nigeria’s ‘only’ game, the diversionary football fiesta ‘while Rome Burns all around us’, it is time to examine our conscience. How many watched football in darkness due to Buhari, Babangida, Abacha, Obasanjo and Co’s incompetence and failure to ‘electrify’ Nigeria? Say No to past military presidents offering football instead of power.

There are Nigerians patriotic enough to see the football failure as reward for national lack of investment in sport. Worldwide sportspersons receive supervision including extraspecial diets and ‘donated items’ by beverage companies. Now companies ‘donate’ most food and balls on multimillion naira billboards. ‘Na plastic billboard my pikin go kick or chop?’ As long ago as 50 years ago sportsmen in Nigerian schools got ‘extra rations’ and support and performed. Remember Amu-now bishop and Ikejiani made it through systematic support programmes, not by government fiat and billboard footballs and tracks! Corporate billboard gain is football loss and pain.

Why do we expect the best result when we give so little? Are we 419? Witness the struggle a sports person goes through. It is an attestation to the chronic failure of ‘political sport’ or sport politicians’ to establish a pyramid, a ladder in every sport in LGA, State and federal levels. In this IT world where we spend billions daily on the cellphone, internet and advertising, there is no Coca Cola, Cadbury, Lever Brothers, PZ Cussons, NBPlc, MTN, Glo, Dangote or Oando ‘Sport Website’ database with age and sex based athletic detail and performance levels for each athlete and position for every sport? The Adopt a Talent, Athlete project in Lagos is a good start. Does a systematic Nigerian Youth Sports Development program exist to discover, develop and deploy and acclaim unsung talent as in Ghana and elswhere? Are our ‘best’ good enough when compared to those chosen from a systematic nationwide coaching program?

With all the ‘Nbillion $billion’ squandered daily in Nigeria, how many footballs have political and corporate Nigerians bought for Nigeria’s 50m youth to expose them to ‘beta’ football? How many coaches and talent scouts have made the grand tour of Nigeria’s backstreet, abe bridge and schools? Where is the 2010 updated list of potential goalkeepers, backs and strikers for our own Nigerian football satisfacton before we feed foreign football frenzies in FIFA 2014, 2018? The world’s best footballer will remain cheering in the stands if he never kicks a football. How many Peles are in the stands in Nigeria? That is why civilised countries have budgets and funds for ‘talent hunt’ and ‘coaching tours’. If politicians can go on tour and practice boxing and striptease in NASS so can our sports coaches –tour, not box and strip. Nigeria must look for the talent, create opportunities by providing diet and equipment and discover today those who could be famous tomorrow in all sports and not just football. Sports is not instant but about grueling training. Now all the estimated N1billion football dedicated megabillboards screaming World Cup FIFA South Africa 2010 are suddenly exposed for what they are – bitterly meaningless to Nigeria’s development- cheap publicity for corporate Nigeria making ‘footballfools’ or ‘foolballs’ of us in the advert space with little imput towards real sports development of Nigerian Youth. Shame, Shame, Shame. Could they not have distributed 100,000 footballs as a publicity stunt?

Remember that in pursuit of ‘cheap publicity’ masquerading as CSR many companies have paid huge sums in support of for ‘supporters’ and multimillion naira megabillboard adverts featuring big ‘plastic picture’ footballs in promotion of the ‘great game’. A clear case of ‘Nigeria’s Billboard Sports Campaign’ like Soyinka’s ‘billboard politics’ but nothing practical for the young feet to touch. Imagine a company ‘donating’ N102,000,000 and another spending $20,000,000 or N2,600,000,000 on its own South Africa ‘campaign’ –more than the entire Nigerian Football League spends annually! Across Nigeria and Africa there are millions of ‘billboard footballs’ but few footballs at the feet of Africa’s 200m youth. A good FIFA football costs N3,000. N102m is 34,000 footballs and $20m is 766,666.6 balls or 10.9 footballs per school for 70,000 schools. Having lost out, the ‘dissappointed’ fans and hoards of Nigerian government officials should remember this column’s advice and visit the wonderful MTN Science Centre in South Africa. Google it if you did not go. Must we ‘Fellow Nigerians’ send a 10million man petition or swamp MTN lines with a 30million ‘Science Centre for Nigeria, Please’ Text Message Campaign before it spends a drop of profits on Science Centres for Nigerian youth -80% of MTN profits come from Nigeria. Don’t we deserve a permanent Science Centre? Indeed with 100m+ people and 60m+ youth we deserve 10 or 20 such centres. $20m builds 20 Science Centres at $1m or N130,000,000 or 40 Science Centres at N65,000,000 each or 100 Science Centres at N26,000,000 or 200 Science Centres at $100,000 or N13,000,000. Instead, it was dissipated on transient football parapernalia – plane tickets, expensive hotels, limos, and now torn posters, dead billboards and expired dreams and STILL NO FOOTBALLS or LIBRARY BOOKS FOR NIGERIAN CHILDREN to become the next generation for World Cup 2014 and 2018. Why do we make it so difficult for our youth to read or play football? Now that the ‘foolball’ diversion is over, back to dark NEPA/PHNCless reality!!!! Today ‘foolball’, tomorrow Nigeria@50. More stupid congratulatory billboards or change?