In line with his commitment to ensuring that the welfare of former Nigeria internationals in dire need are given assistance, Minister of Youth and Sports Development Mr. Sunday Dare on Sunday gave financial lifeline to ailing former Super Eagles defender Sunday Eboigbe.
Following his outcry in a national newapaper that he was sick and in need of support, the Minister directed one of his staff Mr. Ogunjimi to trace Eboigbe and hand over cash gift to assist him.
Ogunjimi visited the ex player in his Benin City abode and handed him the cash gift from the Sports Minister.
According to the Minister’s aide, the gesture would not end with just the cash gift, but the ex international would be given needed medical assistance. The state of his ailment would be assessed by medics with the aim of giving him proper treatment to be paid for by the Minister.
Also Read: Sports Ministry Writes NFF, Demands Welfare Plans For Players
The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development had written to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) mandating it to come up with a welfare package that would take care of ex internationals who are either sick or injured.
Sports Minister, Dare, had extended similar assitance to the mothers of late Rashidi Yekini, Samuel Okwaraji and quartermiler Sunday Bada.
6 Comments
May God reward Sunday Dare for his kind gesture.He’s indeed a breath of fresh air in Nigeria’s sports fraternity.
A good man and a selfless administrator.
I hope administrators in other sectors of the country could take a leaf and practice good and dependable leadership just like the sports minister has demonstrated in just over a year in the office.
Meanwhile,it’s baffling how most of our ex internationals ends up in penury,you kind of wonder the reasons behind this pitiable condition they find themselves despite earning good wages in their playing days,i know football in particular is a short career but with proper planning things could have been different.
However,I strongly believe we have the wherewithal to survive an economic downturn and the personnel to put things straight in order but sentiments tribalism,nepotism and all the negative vices which has bedevilled the society is just that boogeyman always their to muddle and screw-up things both in sports and other sectors of the country,very unfortunate indeed.
The only good thing to have come out of Buhari’s administration in the last 6 years! Sunday Dare
May God continue to bless you sir. Whenever I read about this gestures and great things he’s been doing and he’s up to…I just thank God the best of the best was inserted right into the Sport Ministry because this is the only thing that still makes many including me love Nigeria. Keep up the Good work
Good one, Mr. Minister. More of this please!
I agree with you Pompei, it is a helpful statement from the minister and as you say, more of that.
I join other well meaning sport lovers to appreciate the kind gesture of the sports minister. However, I believe it will be a lot more beneficial to use his tenure to institutionalise this kind of support by establishing a Trust Fund for ageing or injured sportsmen who had represented the nation at any agreed level. Such fund should be backed by relevant laws with laid down guidelines on sources of funding, administration/management of the funds, eligibility criteria to benefit from the fund and guidelines for disbursements to eligible past heroes.
If such is not put in place, the good gesture that the minister is displaying now could well amount to playing to the gallery. At this moment the criteria for attracting such help may only be known to the minister, and at best, the gesture may only last till the end of this minister’s tenure.
Good one@ ALEKS. To add to that, I will suggest that footballers especially those foreign based, should be encouraged to contribute into that fund while at the same time learn from the mistakes past generations by investing into their retirement future.