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Less
than one week after former Super Eagles defender, Uche Okafor died in
the United States, Gideon Njoku,another Nigerian international, passed
on in Lagos.

Today’s generation
of Nigerian football fans mesmerised by the talent of Austin ‘Jay Jay’
Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu may not know Njoku but in his time he was one
of the best around. He was a member of Nigeria’s gold medal winning
team at the 1973 All Africa Games.Before Njoku died he was not a very
happy man. In October last year, during the celebration of Nigeria’s
50th independence anniversary, Njoku was one of the former Nigerian
footballers, who were at the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian
Church of God (RCCG) to confer an award on Pastor Enoch Adeboye. As I
interacted with him, I saw a man who was bitter with a system, which
favoured individuals who were willing to lick books and bend the truth.
He felt that the football establishment in Nigeria had not been fair to
him.

You may agree or
disagree with him depending on your disposition; the fact however
remains that in his prime he derived joy from serving his country.

In his time,
athletes were not like those of the present generation, preoccupied
with pecuniary matters. What was uppermost in their minds was to excel
and be worthy ambassadors of their country. They competed for Nigeria
without any inhibitions, without any expectations beyond the fact that
they wanted to be given a pat on the back for a job well done.

Njoku served
Nigeria well. The All Africa Games gold medal they won in 1973 was
Nigeria’s first major international football laurel. It paved the way
for subsequent triumphs continentally and globally.

Sadly for him and
for other members of that team and many others of their generation who
did big things for their country, they have not been celebrated. A lot
of former Nigerian stars of Njoku’s and later generations, perhaps
sensing that continued participation in sports in Nigeria was the
quickest route to penury left Nigeria to study and work abroad. A lot
of them have not come back.

In the United
States alone we have hundreds of them-Charlton Ehizuelen, Bruce
Ijirgho, Felix Imadiyi, Francis Monidafe, Sam Okpodu, Modupe Oshikoya
were some of those that set forth at dawn. Later we had others like
Chibuzor Ehilegbu, Humphrey Edobor, Paul Okoku,the Olukanmi brothers,
Femi and Segun, Deinde Akinlotan. This is not to forget the track and
field athletes-Innocent Egbunike, the Ezinwa brothers, Olapade
Adenekan, Peter Agbebaku, Chidi Imoh and others who remain in the
Diaspora.

Rewarding service

I believe that for
former sportsmen like Njoku the country they served diligently should
not leave them in the lurch. It has been argued and there is merit in
that argument that sportsmen should while active should not wait on
government but should plan for the time their limbs become weakened
with age and as such cannot carry them anymore.

Retired sportsmen
like Segun Odegbami and Adokiye Amiesimaka are exemplars in this
regard. Both men managed despite the challenges to get educated and to
thrive in business.However, it is my opinion that regardless of whether
retired sportsmen plan for retirement or not, the country they served
in their youth should make adequate plans for them to be comfortable in
old age. For those who may want to ask what is special about sportsmen
that government should go out of its way to cater for them, I ask: what
is the rationale behind giving retirement benefits to past military
leaders who subverted the Nigerian constitution by shooting their way
to power?

If these men who in
the course of violating the laws of the land amassed so much wealth can
be rewarded instead of being vilified and punished, why can’t dedicated
men and women who while competing for this country burnished its image
internationally be rewarded also with retirement benefits?

Is it too much for
government acting through the National Sports Commission (NSC)to set up
a mechanism that would identify ways in which retired sportsmen who
have represented in international sporting competitions can be put on
retirement benefits and those who can still contribute intellectually,
be given opportunity to do so?

As I write this,
Kenneth Ilodigwe, a former member of Enugu Rangers and the Green
Eagles, is down with prostate cancer and needs a little over $60,000
for treatment. In his seventies, Ilodigwe, known by admirers as Kendo
for his dashing and mesmerising style cannot afford the amount and has
cried out for help.

Whether the country
he served in his youth will come to his aid or whether it will allow
him to die and then eulogise him as a patriot remains to be seen. For
me, I think the time has come for us to live out the creed in our
anthem, which says that ‘‘the labours of our heroes past shall not be
in vain.” At this stage in our national life when patriotism is equated
with foolishness there can be no better way to inspire our youth to
national service than by showing and proving to them that those who had
walked down that road before them did not do so in vain.