Nigeria's Golden Eaglets set for just reward 


By Oluwashina Okeleji
BBC Sport, Lagos 




Ugbade was the captain of Nigeria's under-16 World Cup-winning team
Nigeria's Golden Eaglets will get their reward for winning the maiden under-16 World Cup, after a 25-year wait.

Each player was promised a house, stock in the central bank and a scholarship among other incentives for bringing glory to the continent in 1985.

However, the Nigerian government never fulfilled their pledges.

After waiting in vain, the team captain Nduka Ugbade took their plight to a public hearing at the Nigerian parliament.

Ugbade was in tears as he openly questioned the expectations of the government from athletes when efforts of past heroes are never appreciated or rewarded.

The Director General of the Nigeria Sports Commission, Patrick Ekeji, apologised to the players and promised to pursue their reward.

"I don't have enough details of China 1985 and I want you to supply every detail of promises made to you, we will begin the process of helping you get your benefits," Ekeji said.

"The government appreciates its past heroes [so] 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."

The school boys from Nigeria conquered the world in China in 1985 by beating then West Germany 2-0 in an epic final in Beijing.

The players received a rousing welcome on their return home.

The military leader at the time, Mohammed Buhari promised them national honours, houses, streets named after each member, stock at the central bank, educational scholarships, visits to all the states of the federation and the Mexico 1986 World Cup.

"We did not even get our bonuses from the World Cup while the scholarship was stopped when the government did not pay," Ugbade told BBC Sport.

"Only a company [Thomas Cook] 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.

"Hopefully, we can finally get it because the man Patrick Ekeji is sincere in his quest to sort it out for us."

Even though Nigeria has since achieved further success at the Fifa under-17 World Cup in 1993 and 2007, the success of the 1985 Golden Eaglets remains a major milestone in the country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/8919388.stm

Uhm, better late than never, only in Nigeria