By Olu Fasan
The past two weeks have been remarkable for sports women internationally. Women’s national sports teams were victorious in major international tournaments and attracted differing responses from their governments. In Britain, England’s women’s national football team, the Lionesses, beat their Spanish counterpart to win the 2025 UEFA Women’s Championships.
In Nigeria, the Super Falcons, this country’s women’s national football team, triumphed over their Moroccan rivals to bring home the 2025 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, WAFCON. Barely a week later, the D’Tigress, Nigeria’s female basketball team, secured a hard-fought victory over Mali to clinch the 2025 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket cup. Kudos to the ladies! Who says women cannot do what men can do? Of course, they can, and even better!
To be sure, sports are part of every country’s soft power. Victories in major international tournaments can earn a country respect and influence in the comity of nations. Which is why every country must develop its sports teams and celebrate the achievements of its sportsmen and sportswomen. However, how a country celebrates its victorious sports teams matters because if done tackily, it can be counterproductive and erode the respect a country should earn from such victories. Thus, for that reason, my aim here is to compare and contrast the responses of Nigeria and Britain to the recent victories of their women’s national teams.
Let’s start with Britain. To say the least, the Lionesses’ victory captured the imagination of the English people. Thousands lined the streets, utterly ecstatic, to cheer the sportswomen as they embarked on an open-top bus parade that ended with a royal welcome in Buckingham Palace. After leaving Buckingham Palace, the Lionesses headed to Downing Street for a reception hosted by the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer. In his remarks, the Prime Minister hailed the women’s “historic success” and told them: “Recognition is coming”. By that he meant they would receive national honours, most likely Member of the Order of the British Empire, MBE, or Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE. Separately, it was announced that the victorious sportswomen would be inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame. There’s no other way to describe it: a nation showed its appreciation!
So, what about Nigeria? Well, there was no ecstatic public homecoming celebration for the Super Falcons or the D’Tigress. In a sense, given that the Super Falcons have won 10 of the 13 editions of WAFCON since it began in 1998, and considering that the D’Tigress have won the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket five consecutive times, one could argue that there was no novelty in their recent victories and hence no spontaneous public excitement. But winning 10 out of the 13 editions of a tournament and winning five straight titles, as the D’Tigress did with the AfroBasket Women’s cups, are no mean feats.
Yet, let’s face it, in a country where nearly 90 per cent of the citizens are trapped in extreme poverty, with most uncertain about where the next meal would come from, it is a bit of a stretch to expect Nigerians to line the streets, waving the national flag, to welcome a victorious national sports team, especially when they are not sponsored to do so as they often are when welcoming, say, the president or a governor or during rent-a-crowd political rallies.
Which brings us to how Nigeria responded to the victories of women’s national sports teams. Well, no surprises, it was entirely a state affair. First, President Bola Tinubu and his wife, Oluremi, hosted the Super Falcons to a grand celebratory reception at the State House. The president praised the victorious women’s football team for “a milestone in the history of sport.” Then, he showered each member of the 24-woman squad with extraordinary largesse: $100,000 (N154 million); a three-bed room apartment and the national honour of the Officer of the Order of the Niger, OON. Of course, a week later, when the D’Tigress secured their own victory, it was inevitable they would receive the same rewards. So, the president gave each of them $100,000, a three-bed room apartment and the OON.
Now, let me say that I do not begrudge the sportswomen for being beneficiaries of such largesse. The Bible talks about wealth transfer. One could say that the women had wealth transferred to them by the state, especially given that the same sportswomen were not treated with such generosity previously. According to the BBC, “in the past, both the men’s and women’s national football teams in Nigeria have had repeated issues with the authorities over delayed payment of bonuses and salaries.”
The BBC added that the “the Super Falcons have several times been involved in sit-in protests during major tournaments over pay issues.” Given that this year’s victory is the Super Falcons’ tenth, what changed? Well, the broader issues of interest to me are the politics and the economics of President Tinubu’s confetti-like distribution of public money and resources to the sportswomen. The politics answers the question of motivation, the economics addresses the question of rationality, that is, whether the largesse are justified.
Take the politics first. Without a doubt, Nigeria is already in a pre-election season, never mind that the 2027 presidential election is still about two years away. The victories of two women’s national sports teams nearer a general election are opportunities few presidents would let go to waste; therefore, for them, it is good politics to dispense public money as a largesse to a victorious national team “on behalf of the nation”.
Of course, for President Tinubu, who enjoys spending public money lavishly, and who has no inhibitions in using state resources to bolster his electoral chances, giving each of the sportswomen N154 million and a three-bed room apartment is good politics, with an eye on electoral fortunes.
But if it is good politics, is it also good economics? Well, certainly not! If the largesse was dispensed by private individuals like Aliko Dangote or Femi Otedola, that would be understandable. Rich people are sports enthusiasts all over the world. But it’s hard to justify the state giving a sportsperson N154m and a three-bed room apartment in a country where the per capita income is under $2000 per annum, where most people live below the poverty line and where the middle-class has been totally eviscerated.
The Nigerian state cannot provide services as basic as electricity, a sewage system and public health, which governments provide in other countries, and which their citizens take for granted. Housing meets a basic human need: shelter. And it is a key part of being middle-class. But with Nigeria having an estimated housing shortage of 20m units, where are the houses, and who can afford them? So, giving a three-bed room apartment to each victorious sportsperson is a misguided populism.
The best way to support a national sports team is to give them first-class sports facilities, pay them handsomely and regularly, in terms of salaries and bonuses, and, when they bring home laurels, give them national honours. That’s what Britain is doing. A government that can’t provide basic amenities for the many shouldn’t lavish public money on a select few!
*Dr. Fasan is a commentator on public issues
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