OPINION The Champions League: A metaphor for Nigeria’s underdevelopment

By Kehinde Oluwatosin B.

Yesterday Real Madrid once again defied the odds by coming out unscathed as they for the umpteenth time made mince meat of Bayern Munich . I congratulate their victory and most especially their unpredictability in ascending to the finals. However, how is the victory my business? How does it add value to me beyond that of entertainment? What do I gain as a third-world citizen, shouting and raising the banner for twenty-two made men slugging it out in one of the first world Nations?

Do not get this wrong, I love football ( European and local) and I say with all humility that I have analyzed and followed global football for over a decade plus however, it’s time we take all things as a people beyond their face value.

I missed the match, but I saw a crowd as I made my way home, having a bit of the match freely by the roadside, courtesy a generous bear joint. A terrible thought came to me immediately as I sight the crowd and that is “How do these spectators backing the road as they watch, run for their life ,if a running vehicle beacons? ” Immediately I concluded that even the champions league is a metaphor for Nigeria’s backwardness.

Every champions league night opens a window into why Nigeria has become the open sore of the black race. There are majorly three reasons for such crowd on a champions league night: There is no light (electricity) and people insist on watching, fuel is expensive and people cannot afford to buy it, thirdly is that people cannot afford to pay for the cable bouquet that brings the champions league games into their homes.

The three problems highlighted are purely economic problems, yet we keep screaming “Hala Madrid” failing to see the cause and the effect are both half a dozen and six. Those who watched the match openly yesterday are planning to watch the final too openly because we have lived over the years in such enclave of deprivation from the government that has ensured that all anomalies has been normalized.

Except for the viewing centres, the management of the cable TVs, what does the victory yesterday bring to Nigeria in real terms of GDP (gross domestic product) and economic prosperity? You try to think it out, but you hardly find one, and that takes us to another trouble with us : we waste a lot of time in vanity engagement because productive engagement are becoming few and far between.

You tell everyone who cares to listen how hard you work for fifteen hours a day, however you forgot to tell us that five hours was used in commuting of the total hours spent working. Young men this morning would also discuss and analyze yesterday’s match at newspaper stands for several hours that should have been engaged in productive activities.

It’s pathetic that what has become a cash cow for UEFA, FIFA, and all the football community in Europe is the reason (although through government failings) why a generation of young people thread towards the path of waste in Nigeria.

Kehinde Oluwatosin Babatunde is a prolific writer and public speaker.