Why Every Nigerian Athlete Dreams To Leave Home: The Numbers, The Neglect & The National Shame

By Chinedu Hardy Nwadike

It’s shocking to say — but here’s the hard truth: over 700 footballers in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) spend eight to nine months fighting for glory, risking injury and poverty, for a total league prize of just ₦200 million. That’s less than the cost of two SUVs purchased for Nigerian senators.

Yes — one senator’s official SUV costs ₦160 million, and the federal government bought 360 of them, spending ₦57.6 billion. Meanwhile, hundreds of players travel across Nigeria by bus, sleep in shared rooms, and hope their clubs can pay salaries delayed for months. And somehow, this is normal.

Nigeria’s national budget tells the story better than any politician can. The government allocated ₦57.6 billion for lawmakers’ SUVs, ₦21 billion for the Aso Rock Clinic, ₦15 billion to renovate the Vice President’s lodge, ₦5 billion for a presidential yacht, and ₦90 billion for a new presidential jet. Yet the total prize for the country’s top-flight football league remains ₦200 million — the same sum that can barely buy two of those luxury vehicles. That’s how Nigeria measures priorities: luxury over legacy.

Whenever the Super Falcons or D’Tigress make Nigeria proud, cameras roll and promises rain. Each player is promised $100,000 (₦153 million), each coach $50,000 (₦76 million), along with three-bedroom flats and national honours. These rewards make headlines — but they’re reactionary, not revolutionary. The real tragedy is that these are isolated gestures that happen only after success, never as sustained investment before it.

Now, compare that with the Zenith NBBF Women’s Basketball League, the very platform that feeds D’Tigress. The champions receive ₦7.5 million, runners-up ₦5 million, and third place ₦3 million. That’s barely $10,000 for a full season — less than the cost of a single tire from one of Abuja’s official convoys. While D’Tigress is celebrated globally, the women sweating it out in our local courts remain unseen and unpaid.

The Federal Ministry of Sports Development received a ₦113 billion allocation in the 2025 national budget — a 243 percent jump from ₦32.9 billion in 2024. On paper, that looks like progress. In practice, no one can point to a single fully funded grassroots program. There are no consistent youth leagues, no functional national academies, no national athlete database, and no transparency on how those billions are used. What we have is a system that celebrates winners but never builds them.

Now, take a look across the border. In South Africa, the Premier Soccer League (PSL) winner takes home USD 1.13 million — that’s about ₦1,662,275,200. Their clubs are professionally run, players are insured, and salaries arrive on time. Most of their national team players heading to the World Cup are home-based. Meanwhile, Nigeria is struggling through playoffs with a team built on foreign-based players because our domestic league cannot retain enough quality to compete globally. We’ve gone from the era of Rashidi Yekini and Stephen Keshi — when local players could dominate — to a system where homegrown talents can’t even make the Super Eagles bench.

When an athlete leaves Nigeria, we don’t just lose a player — we lose a generation. If one leaves today, his or her grandchildren will never be Nigerian, and that bloodline is gone for good. Just look at Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Curtis Jones, Tosin Adarabioyo, Dominic Solanke, Lesley Ugochukwu, and Ethan Nwaneri — all Nigerian by heritage, yet representing England. That’s an entire national team lost to neglect. In basketball, it’s the same story: Giannis Antetokounmpo, OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, Josh Okogie, and Al-Farouq Aminu — all of Nigerian origin, but developed, supported, and celebrated under foreign systems. Even in athletics, dozens of Nigerian-born athletes now run for Qatar, Bahrain, the U.S., or the U.K. because Nigeria didn’t build a home for their talent.

We cheer “Nigerian-born” winners abroad, but they didn’t succeed because of Nigeria — they succeeded in spite of it.

Picture a 22-year-old NPFL player earning ₦150,000 a month, unpaid for three months, sleeping in a shared room, and traveling on broken buses. He risks his future on poor pitches and plays through injuries, praying one scout might see him. Meanwhile, a senator cruises past in a ₦160 million SUV, funded by taxpayers. That is Nigeria’s definition of reward: applause for politicians, pity for players.

If just 10 percent of the ₦113 billion sports budget were directed toward infrastructure, Nigeria could build youth centers in every state, establish national football academies, fund 10,000 athlete scholarships annually, create a national health insurance plan for players, and build a real scouting system. Instead, we spend on banquets and motorcades while our athletes hustle for food and transport.

Across Africa, others are doing it right. In Egypt, league champions earn over ₦500 million and their clubs remain continental powerhouses. Morocco has government-backed academies that produced the continent’s best World Cup performance. Kenya’s national sports fund ensures athletes are paid directly, not through corrupt intermediaries. Nigeria, with its unmatched talent pool, has none of these systems.

We don’t need another promise; we need a Sports Development Act. A law that guarantees at least one percent of Nigeria’s capital budget goes directly into youth sports infrastructure. Every registered club should run a youth academy. Athlete welfare and pensions should be law, not charity. Corporate sponsorships must support development, not just public relations.

We love our athletes when they win, but abandon them while they train. We love the headlines, not the hard work. We fund luxury, not legacy. If Nigeria can spend ₦57.6 billion on SUVs, ₦15 billion to renovate a lodge, and ₦90 billion on a new jet but cannot pay players or maintain stadium lights, then let’s stop pretending.

The dream of every Nigerian athlete is to leave — because the system they serve doesn’t serve them back. Until we fund passion the way we fund power, the only thing we’ll keep exporting is our talent — and our identity.

Chinedu Hardy Nwadike is the Publisher, OtownGist Media, Owerri, Imo State