Austin Jay Jay Okocha, former Eagles mercurial midfielder knows where the shoe pinches. He has seen the good, the bad and the ugly of being a sports man. He is retired and knows the in and out of what it takes to be a sportsman.
Okocha was quoted to have said that Enyimba or any other Nigerian team would be his first priority to play for than any other club in the world but the problem is he needs to pay the bills and take his family from poorer conditions to the luxury apartment.
Okocha is from Delta State but chose to adopt Enugu as his home even though Delta State Government under Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan named the stadium in Ogwashi Uku after him.
This statement from Jay Jay Okocha sums up everything Favour Ofili did last week when she announced that she has shifted alliances to Turkey after the later offered her an earth shaken, mouth-watering contract.
If Ofili had rejected that offer, I am sure the youths of Isselle Ukwu would have gathered at the middle of the town to offer sacrifices will make her to see beyond her nose.
Forget the argument for or against the shifting of allegiance which shocked Nigerians including the executive of African Athletics Federation( AFN), Ofili has done well.
The career of a professional athlete is short and often financially precarious. Athletes have their families and the most important thing, to safeguard their future when there would be nobody to cater for them.
It is pertinent at this juncture to thank Favour Ofili for letting us know that bad behaviour at times pay. Ofili is difficult to deal with and has been like a bone in the neck of AFN for some years. It was reported that the poor girl from Isselle Ukwu whom some people laboured to bring up no longer hear the whistles of those that spend their hard earned money on her.
It was also reported that she blocked her phone line against Nigerians so as to enable her concentrate on the coup to shift allegiance to Turkey and all efforts to reach her proved abortive. On so many occasions according to AFN bigwigs, she chooses the type of events to participate in like what she displayed in Accra and Cameroon.
The Director General of the National Sports Commission, Bukola Olakpade revealed that 24 hours after his appointment, he picked his phone and called Favour Ofili and what was her reply” I do not want to talk to any official from Nigeria. I am sorry Sir “and dropped the phone. That shows how difficult it is to deal with her.
As God will have it, Turkey came to the rescue of AFN by offering Ofili and some other athletes what they can never turned down.
As reported by Journalists all over the World, Turkey has been dangling what has been described as an irresistible carrots of 500,000 dollars as sign-on fees to any top athlete that agree to switch allegiance to them and a monthly allowance of 30,000 dollars as training grant. That is not all, if the athlete win a medal at the Olympic Games, World
Championship and European Championships, he or she will get half a million dollars for Gold, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars for Silver and One Hundred and Fifty thousand dollars for bronze.
Compare that to Nigeria paying 20,000 dollars as yearly grant, Five thousand dollar for gold, three thousand dollars for Silver and 150 dollars for bronze.
Thank you Ofili for letting us know that Turkey is buying athletes like Footballers for exorbitant prices and who knows , it may be the turn of journalists tomorrow. Should Turkey offer as little as 50,000 dollars as sign on fee to journalists, that will be the end of media in Nigeria as all would move en masse .Who wants to surfer.
As at the last count, 6 athletes from Jamaica including a gold medal winner, a Silver medalist and two bronze medal winners have abandoned their country upon hearing the type of money Turkey is dishing out to those who are ready to change their nationality. I am sure we have not heard the last as more athletes from poor countries like Nigeria will toe that line.
The task to stop this on the athletes is for the Federal and state governments to set up a think tank team to look into this with a view to restructure the sports sector. There should be a renewed collaboration among federations, the private sector and other stakeholders to safe guard Nigeria’s sporting legacy.
The Federal Government in particular must embark on strategic planning, and fashion out a framework within sports federations.
Sports should be made to occupy a suitable position in the budget with a view to attract corporate investment vis-a-vis public-private partnership.
Sports commissions both at the state and federal must operate with clear mandate and sincere vision towards unravel the many talents that abound in the nooks and crannies in the country.
One serious area the government must act on is to improve on the funding of sports which is nothing compared to other sector. This must be done as soon as possible to avert a looming crisis in the sports sector because the economic situation is not favourable.
Those in charge of managing the sport affairs must also wake up and do the needful by adjusting to the modern tune of doing things.
There have been too much complain, too much “ I don’t care attitude “ which will not help the sports sector to grow.
It is either you are ready or pave way for those who are capable of rising up to the task.
