“Nigeria has a terrible record of honoring its heroes, but let us not twist facts. The truth is that Taribo, Okocha, Kanu, Amokachi, and others were among the highest paid athletes in the world during their playing days”
Taribo West’s Outburst challenged, He Should Remember His Golden Days
PM Sports reveal Okocha, Taribo earned ₦193m yearly – how many civil servants saw that kind of money?
When PM Sports revealed that Austin “Jay-Jay” Okocha and Taribo West were earning as much as ₦193 million annually in their prime, I couldn’t help but ask: how many civil servants in Nigeria earned this much? How many soldiers who daily put their lives on the line for this country ever earned even a fraction of that figure?
Let us put things in context. These footballers were not paid by Nigeria; they earned their wages abroad, in top-flight European clubs where football is not just sport but a multi-billion-dollar business. Still, the fact remains: they lived the good life. They were adored. They dined with kings. They enjoyed luxuries ordinary Nigerians could never imagine.
Daniel Amokachi, for instance, was one of the very few Nigerians who owned a private jet at the height of his career. That is no small feat.
When the richest complain, perspective is lost
This is why it is laughable when Pastor Taribo West turns around to lament that Nigeria abandoned ex-footballers. Yes, Nigeria has a terrible record of honoring its heroes, but let us not twist facts. The truth is that Taribo, Okocha, Kanu, Amokachi, and others were among the highest paid athletes in the world during their playing days. They had golden opportunities that millions of Nigerians would never see in ten lifetimes.
Meanwhile, our civil servants — teachers, doctors, clerks, nurses — worked for 35 years and retired with pensions that could not pay for even a month’s salary of these ex-footballers. Soldiers died on battlefields, nameless, with no compensation for their families.
Grievances are valid, but truth is sacred
Taribo West is a man of God now. That means he should speak truth, not emotion. The truth is that Nigerian footballers were blessed beyond measure. The nation may not have created retirement schemes for them, but they cannot honestly claim poverty when they once swam in millions.
So, Pastor Taribo, with due respect: face your front. If you want to preach, preach the gospel. But if you want to complain, at least remember that you once earned in a week what a Nigerian civil servant could not earn in a lifetime.
Final Word
Nigeria may be guilty of neglect, but ex-Super Eagles stars are guilty of forgetting how privileged they were some truths are too glaring to be ignored.
