The Bible as well as the Quran, I believe, preach equality because human beings were created equally in God’s image. And there is an old American proverb which states that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

This proverb reverberated this past week from Accra, Ghana where the 13th African Games is holding. And it came from none other than Dr. Daniel Igali, a man who knows what it takes an athlete to prepare for a competition and win a medal of any hue.

Before Igali’s latest outcry, I have been an advocate of equal treatment for all Nigerian athletes, be it in the so-called elite or lesser sports, as Nigerian government officials are wont to classify them.

Many countries have special interests in different sports which they classify as national or number sport mainly because of the followership. In the United States, basketball as well as the popular American football share that limelight. 

In England, their national sport is said to be cricket but football is the most popular. Coming down to Africa, in Angola their number one sport is basketball while in South Africa, their number one is rugby and their national team, the Springboks have won its World Cup four times.

Despite having a national sport, these countries don’t discriminate against other sports in terms of rewards and attention.

In Nigeria, football is unarguably the most popular sport but the difference between Nigeria and other countries earlier mentioned is that football is treated like king while other sports are treated like orphans. 

I am told that the government of Angola has special budget for the running of basketball. Their budget for the sport  is more than the budget the Nigerian government devotes to sports generally.

Like Angola, football’s funding in Nigeria is directly appropriated from the National Assembly while the other sports get theirs from the scanty budget of the sports ministry.

The reason for this, I believe, was because the military governments of the past saw football as the opium of the masses and because they wanted to use it to gain legitimacy, they ensured it was properly funded.

Truly, other sports have never really quarreled with the preferential treatment football players get until government officials introduced match bonuses for them for winning every game.

When representing the country, athletes of all sports get equal daily camp allowances, paid in Naira when they camp in the country and in dollars when they camp outside the country.

While other sports don’t get bonuses for winning different stages of their competition and sometimes even the final, footballers  get paid for winning every match they play.

I remember when the senior men’s basketball team participated in the basketball Nations Cup referred to as Afrobasket in Tunisia in 2015, they won all their matches up to the final against Angola except the group game against host, Tunisia.

Surprisingly, there was no winning bonus for them as the sports ministry didn’t make provision for that. But because Nigeria needed to win that trophy for the first time in their history, president of the NBBF, then, Tijjani Umar pleaded with the Director General of the then National Sports Commission, Alhaji Alhassan Yakmut to promise them  some bonus if they are able to beat Senegal in the semi final. Guess what he promised them, $500 each.  Of course you wouldn’t blame him because the sports ministry didn’t budget for it. The same $500 was promised if they went ahead to win the cup. So for winning the Afrobasket for the first time in 50 years, each D’Tigers player got $1,000 winning bonus.

In football, because the sport is special in the eyes of the government, for every match won, the players get $5000 each. That has been the practice till date.

This huge bonuses notwithstanding, the government goes ahead to reward them anytime they win major competitions like the AFCON and Olympic football gold. They have never been rewarded for winning silver before until this year.

Surprisingly, maybe to please Nigerians, President Bola Tinubu’s men could have advised him to reward the Super Eagles for losing the final of the 2023 Africa Nations Cup to Cote d’Ivoire and settling for silver.

For the first time in the history of sports in Nigeria, the Super Eagles received plots of land, houses and National honour for winning silver in the Nations Cup.

But the same government has however, promised to pay $3000 to athletes who won gold medals at the ongoing African Games in Accra.

For winning silver, each Super Eagles player must have received $25,000 for the five matches they won in Abidjan, including the presidential largesse.

But Igali sees this as injustice to other athletes who toiled day and night, through preparations to participation and won gold for the country and are  getting only $3000.

According to him, if the president could reward millionaire footballers who got $25,000 match bonus each with flats, plots of land and National honour for winning silver, he should do more for athletes who won gold.

“Let us treat everybody equally. We cannot treat super millionaires (Super Eagles players) differently from our athletes. What is good for the goose, is good for the gander.

 We have footballers go to the AFCON and won silver medal and were given flats, plots of land and National honours. They should do the same to these athletes who won gold at the African Games, they didn’t win silver, they won gold medals”, a worried Igali stressed.

Yes, Igali is right. The earlier this discrepancy is addressed, the better for the country.  Otherwise one day, the administrators will be confronted with agitation and maybe boycott of the national teams by aggrieved athletes.