Nigeria’s sports minister, Sunday Akinlabi Dare has used the occasion of the fourth year memorial of the death of former Super Eagles’ captain and head coach, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi to reflect on the life and time of some of the country’s football heroes and promised a long-lasting welfare package for the families they left behind.
Megasportsarena.com gathered that, in furtherance of his objective, Dare said the sports ministry is already putting together a long list of coaches who brought glory home to the nation through their successful efforts with the various sexes and levels of the national teams.
The minister disclosed that the list being put together will extend welfare packages to families of the late heroes that are in need of assistance, among which he also mentioned late Shuaibu Amodu, Mudashiru Lawal, Manga Muhammed, Musa Abdullahi, Keshi and many others, all of who he pledged will not be neglected.
He added that the welfare scheme will henceforth provide monthly stipends for the families of late national team players, coaches, ailing ex-internationals and former athletes, based on the recommendations the sports ministry gets from their respective sports bodies, like Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and others.
Dare posited: “We have compiled a list of not only ex players and athletes, we included coaches who served their father land. They deserve be part of what we are doing. Their families as well as those with one form of ailment or the other.
“Someone like Late Stephen Keshi who won the Nations Cup 2013 in South Africa. We need to visit the family. The man served this country both as player and as a coach. We can’t pretend to forget so soon that he was truly a patriot and as well as a legend of the round leather game.
“Late Shuaibu Amodu was one of the first coaches in this country that qualified us on two occasions to the World Cup, his parents and family deserves our love. They should know we still remember him.
“The family of late coach Musa Abdullahi who was the U17 coach in 2001 will be visited too. Late Manga Muhammed a player who played in the under-17 world Cup Japan 93 where the country won the trophy, we need to go to Kano and see his family. Late Mudashiru Lawal, was another legend of the game as far back as the early 80’s.
“I personally made an arrangement to ensure that the family will be visited too. The most important thing is that we have created a welfare scheme for our past heroes and heroines. We are close to changing the narrative completely and we will continue to update the list as time goes on.”
