So, ex-international Kingsley Obiekwu is in the news because someone found him driving a commercial car somewhere and Ahmed Musa, gracious as ever, decided to track him down and bless him with two million naira.
What I like about this story is that bro is not being lazy or stuck up. He rolled up his sleeves and got to work making money somehow and said the same when interviewed. There is nothing to be ashamed of in that.
Fabio Coentrao was Ronaldo’s close friend and played with him at Real Madrid. Today, he is a fisherman in Portugal because that is the line of business he wants, and has always wanted, to pursue.
What I don’t like about the story is the idea that every footballer is going to be successful. Most of them fail. They are either not good enough or they get injured and that is that. And football is a career with a very short life span.
Some footballers never earn enough, others earn too much and don’t invest. Some don’t learn how to make themselves relevant in their post-football career that ends at 36-38 years.
Some, like Rashidi Yekini, invest in some businesses and are scammed out of their savings. It may be bad luck or just that they are not business savvy, and that is not a crime. Some, like Obiekwu himself, go into coaching and go unpaid (he is being owed N6m by his previous employers) That is why it is dangerous to pursue a football career without an education.
Football academies, like La Masia, train and educate young children and make their education a priority before they play. Most Nigerian players don’t get that kind of upbringing and once they are signed by a club in Europe, every relative wants a cut.
The dependency ratio in the country is over 80 per cent and that is dangerous because it means few people who actually make any kind of income can save, and fewer can invest in a post-career source of income and when that day comes and one has nothing, the same relatives and friends will be sneering and saying, “What did he do with his money?” If his former colleagues can help him out, if he does need their help, that is fine and good. We should not guilt trip them into doing it.
I know England pays some kind of pension for its retired internationals. Nigeria doesn’t. But if you know someone who is a footballer, advise them to seriously think about investing in a business or trade that will give them some income when they retire because their careers are going to last 10-15 years at most. There is the rest of their lives to look up to after that.
What Nigeria owes this man is 1.) fulfil promises made to him and his teammates when they won gold at Atlanta and 2.) Ensure that his previous employers pay him his dues. I don’t know why the NFF doesn’t have guarantees in place to protect players and coaches. Or why these guarantees, if they are there, are not being enforced.
Ibrahim is an award winning writer
Nice viewpoint!