Nigeria’s Super Falcons defeated Zambia in the quarterfinals of the Women’s African Cup of Nation (WAFCON) football tournament after advancing beyond the preliminary round. They defeated South Africa in the semifinals and then defeated the hosts, Morocco, to win the championship game.
At the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship in Saudi Arabia, the Super Falcons, who were behind Morocco by two goals, pulled off the Dammam Miracle by defeating the USSR’s Under-20 squad in the second half with the same tenacity that had rescued the Flying Eagles from a four-goal deficit.
Esther Okoronkwo converted their first penalty kick into a goal. The second equalizer was then scored by Folashade Ijamilusi. Nigerians, including President Bola Tinubu, erupted in euphoric excitement as Jennifer Echegini scored the game-winning third goal.
Nigerians, who had previously been split into as many political factions as there are presidential candidates, abruptly reverted to a single nation, although a temporary one, as they reveled in their victory over Morocco on their own land. This could be the reason why President Tinubu overpaid the Super Falcons.
The President awarded each player a decadent $100,000 (N15 million at a N1,500 exchange rate) and a three-bedroom home in Renewed Hope Estate, Abuja, in addition to the national honor of being named an Officer of the Order of the Niger. Each participant received N10 million from the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, which was represented by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State as its chairman.
Naturally, team managers also received exceptional compensation for leading the team to accomplish the exceptional performance. And when a grateful nation’s team wins a trophy for the tenth time, nobody can blame them! In this context, we applaud the Tinubu-led administration for paying tribute to the Super Falcons.
Nonetheless, the federal and state governments’ presents of over N4.4 billion to 24 players and 11 handlers are thought to be out of proportion given the nation’s current economic situation. Such a huge amount could have been utilized to address malnutrition and hunger as well as to repair deteriorating infrastructure, such as hospitals and roadways.
According to WAFCON rules, each player would have received $2,000 during the group stage of the competition, $3,000 during the quarterfinals, $4,000 during the semifinals, and an incredible $5,000 during the final. Additionally, each player would have received a share of 33% of the $1 million prize that the winning team received. Normally, this may be sufficient recompense for each player who gained prominence by virtue of the opportunity the nation offered. After awarding the mansions and honors to the winning females, we believe the president ought to have waited and asked to be briefed about the compensation from WAFCON before determining how much money to pay them.
We can’t help but question whether President Tinubu was aware of the statutory payments prior to the team’s extravagant expenditure. The situation is made worse by a government that wants Nigerians to put up with the high cost of living and tightening belts that come with its economic policies, which eliminated subsidies for power, gasoline, and foreign exchange. A country that has been hit by massive socioeconomic issues, including crippling debt, should manage its money carefully.
Recall that the Federal Government lavishly honored the Super Eagles, who won silver at the most recent AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire. Given that a team that finished second in a competition after a performance that was considered subpar may receive extravagant rewards, what would have been the payout if the team had won?
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The former Finance Minister and current National Chairman of the opposition Labour Party, Senator Nenadi Sambo, offers a unique perspective on the presidential extravaganza. She finds it incomprehensible that the president decided to give the girls and their handlers financial rewards in the form of the dollar, an international currency, rather than the naira, Nigeria’s national currency.
She contends that “the symbolic elevation of the dollar over our national currency… is a damning indictment of the administration’s economic mindset,” despite acknowledging that the President has stated that the cash gift would be paid in the naira equivalent of $100,000 to each player and $50,000 to each coach.
She went on to say, “The administration seems to have thrown in the towel after overseeing the naira’s wild collapse from an already unstable N500 to over N1,500 to the dollar. This shows how little this government values and trusts the naira, which is the very representation of our economic independence. We might anticipate that the national budget would soon be published in dollars, or worse, in a basket of foreign currencies!
There ought to be a compensation model for upcoming winners, even though it seems too late to undo the President and Nigeria Governors’ Forum’s acts.
