I see the world through the lens of Sport.
To me, Sport encapsulates most activities in life. In human existence everything is interconnected.
If they above make sense, it follows that Sport cannot be an activity in isolation. It is connected to health, science, technology, engineering, media, governance, education, town planning, politics, diplomacy, culture, fashion, tourism, even music and dance, and so on and so forth.
I live it, and in my experience I see a place for sport in every aspect of my life, just as my friend, film maker and cinematographer, Tunde Kelani, tells me how he also views all of life through his camera lenses.
So, I am looking through my sports prism and observing Nigeria. What I see now excites me. The past three weeks throw some light.
For cultural and religious reasons we debar or limit the participation of our women in certain social and even political activities.
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Some of the excuses I heard, particularly in my growing up years in the north of Nigeria, are that those mostly physical activities, including sports, take away women’s femininity (whatever that meant); that the women develop muscles and no longer look beautiful; that their place is in the kitchen; that they lose ability to bear children; that they have to cultivate male behavior in order to succeed. Of course, there are also religious and cultural reasons that sounded nonsensical, even to a kid like me.
For over half a Century since I left Jos and came to live in the more liberal part of Nigeria where women have slightly more opportunities (as a result of western education and some local traditions that embrace women’s limited participation in some social activities) I have found it shocking that we still continue to limit women’s full participation in some areas, and, therefore, limit their contribution to the advancement of home, society and humanity. Whereas, the evidence has always been before us that they can do as well, if not even better than the men is several fields.
In sport, an area still considered a taboo for women in some parts of the country(unfortunately) the evidence is all around us that given the opportunity of participation, even with little encouragement or support, the women have always attained standards and levels that the men struggle to attain.
From Modupe Oshikoya, to Ethel
Jacks, to Falilat Ogunkoya, Mary Onyali, Chioma Ajunwa, Tobi Amusan, to the women’s national handball, football and basketball teams in the past three decades, the records and statistics speak volumes. These are women that have attained the highest levels in sports in the world with little support and encouragement. There are more of them in other fields.
Now, beneath the clang of despair, economic hardship and the threats of political cataclysm, in sport I have started to hear some loud grunting. A giant is being slowly roused from a long and deep sleep.
For those that can set aside prejudices, sheath the swords of negativity, and clear their misty eyes, with the happenings of the past 3 weeks in Nigerian sports, I believe they would have started to see the faint outlines of something new enveloping the country, throwing up the issue of Nigerian women and what they’ve can bring to the table of development of the country.
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I saw it in the dance steps of Nigerians as they wiggled their waists to the pulsating beats of some of the best and most followed dancehall music in the world today – Afrobeats. In the theatres of sports Nigerian women’s teams are demonstrating to the world the ‘will-to-win’, how to ‘fight-to-the-finish’, the ‘do-or die’ and ‘never-give-up’ spirit, all attitudes and characteristics that define the typical Nigerian – loud, aggressive, confident, proud, unafraid, assertive, resilient, and a winner in any endeavour!
Twice in the past three weeks, Nigerian female athletes have put up performances that made the country to open up its treasury to reward them lavishly.
In Rabat, Morocco, the Falcons, the national women’s football team, rose from the brink of defeat to snatch victory away from the Lionesses of Morocco in a dramatic, suspenseful and unforgettable match.
The country had not fully recovered from the celebration of the magnificent Falcons when the women’s national basketball team, D’Tigress, inspired by the achievements of the Falcons, and driven by the unprecedented rewards showered on their football counterparts, tore apart all opposition on their path to the Afrobasketball Championships in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire. They retained their crown as African Champions for the fifth time in a row.
The victories by both national teams were not for the first time. They could easily have been considered routine, and treated as the previous victories (10 at 12 finals in football, and all the last 5 in basketball) without any fanfare, serious acknowledgement or rewards. But coming at the time they did, and in the manner they did, became reminders of the place and importance of women in Nigerian sports, and even beyond!
I am happy that the government saw beyond the Pyrrhic victories and set new standards of appreciating athletes and a new compass for success into the future.
Rewarding Nigerians that succeed in their different fields of endeavour will never be taken for granted anymore. A benchmark has been set. It cannot suffer reversal any more.
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Even more significant is that the women have become the most rewarded athletes in African sports history. That throws up a useful challenge for all girls as we enter a new era in Nigerian sport. A new carrot has been dangled before them. It is a tonic that will cure all ‘previous ‘ailments’.
All the prejudices of the past, all the stigmas, all the religious and cultural taboos have all been demystified and thrown into the dustbin of the past. New vistas are open and possibilities born.
I foresee an explosion of young girls setting off across the country with balls at their feet or in their hands chasing the dream of success in sport.
I hope the ‘infection’ will spread to other spheres of life, because given the space, the opportunity and essential support Nigerian women would to do to the polity what men have been struggling to do since Independence!
If you look closely enough at Nigerian women, you will see, as I have through my sports lens, that it is all in their genes, in their character and in their stars, to shine and to win!
Nigerian women will rule the world long before the men, and will champion the cause of Nigeria in an emerging new World Order.
Nigerians can only now neglect, limit, debar or disregard them in the polity at our own cost.
