The 1985 Golden Eaglets (then Nigeria's national under-16 football team) may finally get the rewards that were promised to them after they won the inaugural FIFA U-16 World Cup, 25-years after, the BBC reported. Suprisingly, the promises of a house, stock in the central bank, streets to be named after each player, scholarships, etc, made to the players by the Buhari/Idiagbon president were never fulifilled.
The captain of the team, Nduka Ugbade, gave an emotional plea at a public hearing with the House committee on sports where he described the promises that were made to the team. Speaking after the hearing he said, "We did not even get our bonuses from the World Cup while the scholarship was stopped when the government did not pay."
"Only a company fulfilled the Mexico 1986 trip pledge while one of the players Kingsley Aikhionbore waited in vain until he died. Luckily, the honourable members of the house committee on sports heard me out."
The Director General of the Nigeria Sports Commission, Patrick Ekeji, apologised to the team and promised to look into the issues regarding their reward. He said, "The government appreciates its past heroes and I will do all I can to ensure all the players get what they were promised by the government.
"It is really sad because this should have been done a long time ago but hopefully we can right the wrongs by finally fixing it now."
Nigeria's Golden Eaglets have won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1985 (then U-16), 1993 and 2007.
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Emmanuel Nwogbo Logos Nigeria, Nigeria December 08, 2012
It is very unfortunate that those young lads that did Nigeria proud at the maiden edition of fifa under 16 world cup have up till now not been rewarded, this attitude of government in my mind is the fundamental reason why the country's performance in sports has ebbed tremendously in the last decade. This attitude of government must change for things to get better
Victor E ota, Nigeria July 23, 2011
SHAME ON THE NFA, A national athlete has to wait for 26 years before being given a reward for making the country proud. How then do we want our sports to grow. Upon all the delay, they have the right to say that she might receive the reward. can you imagine. Nigeria needs revival in all sectors of the economy.
