Thursday with Abimbola Adelakun, aadelakun@punchng.com
This month, Nigeria has its first representation ever at the Winter Olympics currently taking place in Pyeong Chang, South Korea. The country will be unusually represented in the sport of women’s bobsledding, thanks to the enterprising efforts of three young women: Ngozi Onwumere, Akuoma Omeoga, and Seun Adigun. Another young woman, Simidele Adeagbo, will be representing Nigeria in South Korea too. She will be the first African female Skeleton competitor. During the 2016 Olympics, Chierika Ukogu, a graduate of Stanford University represented Nigeria in a rowing competition, recording another first for Nigeria.
Locally and internationally, the feats of these young women have been celebrated. I think they deserve all the accolades. Those at the Winter Olympics are especially praised because competing in a game like bobsledding even though it never snows in Nigeria, is particularly momentous. The athletes themselves, when they talk about how proud they are to represent Nigeria, exude passion and excitement. However, what is often deliberately elided in the euphoria of the girls’ honouring is the fact that they are children of Nigerian immigrants to the United States. Some of them do not have much familiarity with Nigeria beyond – as one of them gushed – eating Nigerian foods at home and watching Nollywood. Some of the triumphs they are being celebrated for – overcoming geographical and spatial limitations to emerge as potential Olympians – are problems that never existed for them as is painted.
First, I should note that this phenomenon which I see as a sort of post-nationality representation is not limited to Nigeria neither is it even new. Powerful countries like the United States and the United Kingdom have seduced outstanding athletes of other nationalities to wear their national colours to boost their medal count. Middle Eastern countries like Bahrain and Azerbaijan, anxious to have representation on the world stage, have paid mercenary athletes to fly their national colours too. During athletic events, Bahrain has paraded athletes with names such as Oluwakemi Adekoya, Edidiong Ofonime Odiong, Aminat Jamal, Precious Moses, Abbas Abubakar Abbas, and Selwa Eid Naser (the last four, all Nigerian-born). East Africans have been imported by richer and powerful countries to do their thing in the long-distance track and field events. With the right price and motivation, people have swapped their passports to represent countries that suit their interests. While athletes who grew up in Nigeria eventually abandoned the country to represent some other nations, those who grew up in the US now seek to lift the Nigerian flag at international events. Ironical, yes, but different realities produce different perspectives.
A commentator once referred to those who go to international competitions like the Olympics to represent their native countries which they have mostly related to from afar as “Olympic carpetbaggers.” The term is overly strong and does not account for the experiences of the present world where the whole idea of wielding a country’s passport is gradually becoming outdated. Yes, these young ones take advantage of their home country’s lack of ability to send local athletes to compete in certain sports categories for reasons that range from mediocre coordination of their sports administrative affairs to the lack of money to sponsor some sports, particularly the ones that come at a great expense. How in the world would a country like Nigeria have sponsored a rowing competition or even bobsledding when it never snows here?
The Nigerian competitors at the 2018 Games are savvy enough to develop their athletic abilities by taking advantage of all the opportunities the US provides. Because the US Olympics representation field is often crowded out by other fierce competitors, these Nigerian-Americans choose to represent the country of their parents’ instead. They take advantage of the slot awarded to countries that have virtually nil representation in some categories and at the end of the day, it is a win-win situation. Nigeria is represented anyhow, and the competitors fulfil their dreams of becoming Olympians. No, I do not think of these competitors as opportunists as some have accused them. The sense of national pride that sports representation supposedly promotes is not easily containable into a single box of identity. It is inflected by multiple realities.
No matter how they get to become their country’s representatives, I do not think of their efforts as any less noble than those whose Olympic dreams have been thwarted by the poor organisation and abject lack of seriousness that define sports administration in Nigeria. These Diaspora representatives are also luckier than their Nigerian counterparts who are home-based in other ways too: some of them get sports scholarship that enables them to develop their skills while also getting a university education. Others have access to sponsorship opportunities by corporate organisations. The stories of their road to the Olympics are often compelling, and when their trajectories are narrated in the media, the sponsor gets a mention too. Again, it’s a win-win. Overall, they save Nigeria’s face and give the nation a semblance of seriousness.
What is bothersome, however, is that in some years’ time, Diaspora representation at sporting events will become a trend. Already, there are examples of the US-born Amaechi Morton who actively competes for Nigeria and has a string of victories to his credit. More Diasporan children will, at some point, choose to compete for Nigeria at international events. When that time comes, our local sports officials will probably throw up their hands and forget to develop local talents. If they can get self-motivated and ready-made talents at a fraction of the cost, why worry about voting money to develop sports in Nigeria? It will get worse when that trend rears its head in activities other than sports. Nigeria, like similarly unserious African countries, will forget shame and begin to take a vicarious pleasure in someone with a Nigerian name doing something great on the world stage, never mind that Nigeria did not contribute capital to the person’s life and career.
We already see that in the example of Anthony Joshua, the British boxing heavyweight champion. There are claims that he was reported to have tried to represent Nigeria, his native country, in the 2008 Olympics at Beijing but was said to have been rejected by Nigerian officials. He won a gold medal for Britain instead. He has since become an international star and is now proudly claimed by both Britain and Nigeria. The funny part of Joshua’s current relationship with Nigeria is that his success eclipses not just Nigerian officials’ sense of shame but their barest understanding of irony too. Last year, when Joshua faced Cameroonian-French boxer, Carlos Takam, in a challenge in the UK, the Federal Government sponsored an entourage that consisted of the Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun; Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung; Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; and a few others as Joshua’s ringside cheerleaders.
The same Nigeria that has failed local sports development had no qualms coming up with funds to pay politicians to enjoy a boxing tournament in Europe at our collective expense. These men travelled all the way to the UK to clap for a scion they once rejected without perhaps being prodded by their conscience. Dalung, ever obtuse, even concluded ahead of the game that Joshua’s defeat of his opponent, Takam, with his Cameroonian heritage, would seal our sporting superiority in West Africa. When I read that, I realised that irony was dead and buried with whatever was left of Dalung’s simplicity. Do not be surprised that the day will come when a Nigerian representing Israel competes against another Nigerian representing Palestine and the likes of Dalung, Mohammed, and Amosun would tax the country so they could clap at the ringside. When that day comes, their uncritical selves will fly many miles abroad to applaud and even interpret such a competition as an omen for our foreign policy direction or some other similar nonsense!
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