Falcons; Sports deficit; N3-4trn power debt

July 30, 2025 by Tony Marinho

Congratulations to the Super Falcons who defeated Morocco 3-2 to win the WAFCON for the 10th time. Wow! Hurray. Their win is a triumph over many battles of life, with setbacks, overcoming rejection, scepticism, self-doubt, negativity and sports administration fiascos -the lot of every Nigerian athlete. We pray they were actively protected against sexual harassment. There is always luck with huge skill, knowing when to score and more brilliantly when to pass for others to take the goal glory. Yes, there is a winning team but the others are not losers but fellow football athletes who have also given their all with one winner.

This year it is the Super Falcons putting Nigeria back on the world football map. Hurray! Our players will go abroad as with any successful profession from sports to medicine. The only ‘profession’ not sellable abroad is the ‘profession’ of ‘politics’. Think about that! Nobody wants our politicians, but they impose themselves on us. Far too expensive to maintain!  The familiar ‘minister-to-international-job’ transition happens, but rarely for politicians. For those who succeed in the ‘politics-foreign job’ jump, it is their primary pre-politics profession which takes them forward like agriculture, the judiciary, economics, finance and medicine.

The video call with President Tinubu was of, as yet, unrecognised monumentally important. The winning team loved their president. They showed the traditional respectful admiration of youth. We all loved it. It is obvious President Tinubu can easily engage and relate with Nigeria’s youth.  Sadly, President Tinubu is rarely seen with ordinary youth, or with real, not AI, photo ops for the youth to share in millions. This is an important and costly PR failure of his management team to inroad the youth mind pre-vote, especially as 2027 has been accelerated into today’s politics.

No doubt, the houses allocated to the team, coaches and management,  will be  delivered hopefully not after 30 years of administrative obstructionism with no  one punished, but right now from the 1506 individual homes Emefiele built. Creating great good out of bad. So, unknown to him, he was actually using our money in CBN to build for the Super Falcons and other good people if the remaining houses are put to good governance use. The remaining houses should also be allocated within Nigeria’s social architecture -a moral lesson.

Read Also: Tinubu governing with people, not above them, says Shettima

This Super Falcon’s success in football this year focuses attention on the need to vet and assess sports facilities and sports ladders at each LGA, state and federal government level. There is now once more, a 2025 opportunity for the Tinubu government and state governors and LGA chairmen to correct past neglect and return to the glorious days of year-round training for north, south and eastern regional sports festivals and Inter University Games, NUGA, best exemplified by Governor Samuel Ogbemudia of then Bendel State who became the Sports Czar of Nigeria. Moshood Abiola, presidential campaign winner in 1993 became ‘Pillar of Sports’ for his contributions. Time to make our champion sports personalities household names, role models and pillars. The federal government should allocate adequate funds to send teams athletes abroad after rigorous training schedules in any of the several National Sports Stadia, some run down with rubbish accommodation. Governors and LGAs chairpersons should take up ‘Nigerian Sports Infrastructure and Sports Superstructure’ with more responsibility to the youth  and improve primary and secondary school sports with more zonal competition and exposure.

Nigeria has had many unsung sports heroes and heroines. In a country desperately needing non-political role models, ask yourself how many schools have honoured them or named a door, room or a wall after them? Probably none.  Use the internet. Research them and make classroom posters for real-life influencers like Chioma, Ajunwa, Falilat Ogunkoya, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, Lucy Ejike, Asisat Oshoala, D’Tigress team, Tobi Amusan, Ether Oyema.       

Renovating, refurbishing or rehabilitation, call it whatever, of schools is not newsworthy or celebrated in normal countries where high school standards are the ‘minimum standard’ and compulsory norm. No one waits for end stage school dilapidation or collapse, injury or death before doing the right thing. At last, in Nigeria more public schools are getting a long overdue facelift making them ‘Child and Teacher Friendly Classrooms and School Environments’.

Please Google Bariga LCDA Lagos for an amazing primary school and Governor Okpebholo of Edo State for a similar impact. Enough of pointless spending billions on politicians while our children wallow in education poverty. It is our responsibility to ensure children enjoy their ‘years of learning’ .   

Nigeria owes GENCOs N3-4trillion. Prof Oke has pointed out that the debt needs interrogation to ensure its accuracy. A multi-pronged forensic audit should be initiated urgently. Government organs must pay their bills like we do. We all know of the disconnection of government hospitals and health centres ruining patient outcomes. Criminally, many heads of government institutions actually failed to pay their electricity bill (and salaries and pensions) monthly without cause or consequence for years.

Yet, even without paying their monthly electricity bills, those in authority have no spectacular achievement over those in the private sector. So, what did they do with the money illegally ‘saved’ by the non-payment of the electricity bill? Accurate electricity cost projections should be inserted in all government institutions and allocated funds must be used properly. Are we in this N3-4 trillion black hole partly because 30–40-year electricity Budget Allocations were diverted or stolen outright, like the security vote may be?