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As the Minister of Sport cheers Joshua, does the government unreasonably favour foreign Nigerians?

The Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, Information and the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed as well as Governor Ibikunle Amosun, were among the Government entourage that went to cheer Nigerian-British Boxer, Anthony Joshua in his recent victory against Carlos Takam. That the government of Nigeria sends a Federal delegation to a Boxing Match abroad has raised the question of if Government unreasonably favours Nigerians who are born or has schooled or worked abroad.

The Boxer, who defeated Takam on October 28, reclaiming his IBF titles and also won the WBA and IBO championship titles, has never hid his love for the most populous black Nation, where he spent his childhood before moving to UK.

AJ, who also defeated Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko in April, said he still has love for Nigerian foods as Eba, Pounded Yam and Egusi are his favourite dishes that keeps him going.

Joshua has a tattoo of Africa on his right shoulder with an outline of the map of Nigeria, which reveals he never forgot his roots.

He says it is a representation of his people because, as a sportsman, he wants people to be able to relate with him.

Before the match, the Minister of Sport had said the victory of Joshua will prove superiority of Nigeria and its Sportsmanship on the global scene in recent years.

“Of recent, Nigeria has enjoyed the upper hand against its West African neighbours, Cameroon.

“The success of the Super Eagles against the Indomitable , where they snatched 4 points from the available 6 points to qualify for the 2018 World cup is still fresh in our memories.

“Another win by Anthony Joshua will confirm our superiority and how far our sportsmen have gone in recent years.”

Although the story of Joshua is not without a twist as reports have revealed that he had once been rejected when he wanted to represent the country in the Olympics.

According to Nigeria Boxing Legend, Jerry Okorodudu, Joshua had indicated interest to represent the country in the 2012 Olympics games but he was told he is not good enough. But he has never used that against Nigeria as he once said he is reaching out to the Governor his State (Ogun) on how he can help the people.

“I’m even trying out to get to meet the governor, and go and get something back to Nigeria, even though we do small things for the country between my family and my mother.

“We help out the village she came from and If I could do more on a large scale, I’ll definitely come down there and associate myself more with Nigeria,” Anthony Joshua added.

The Nigerian Government, through the Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs, Abike Dabiri Erewa, congratulated him after his fight, identifying him as the pride of the whole Africa and not Nigeria alone.

 “I congratulate you on this wonderful feat, for winning this fight in a Technical Knock-Out”

“We are truly proud of you and urge you to continue to use your professional prowess to extol the virtues of Nigerian heritage. Your shinning beacon serves as inspiration to the Youths of Nigeria.’’

Although there are other Nigerians abroad who are not shy to claim their African origin, especially from the entertainment scene like Jidenna, Hakeem Kae-Kazeem, Wale, Chiwetel Ejofor, and many others, there are still some Nigerians abroad who do not want to hear the name nor affiliate themselves with it.

Earlier in June, UK had its General Election and about 7 persons with Nigerian origin were elected into the parliament. They are Chi Onwurah, Kate Osamor, Kemi Benenoch, Chuka Umunna, Bim Afolami, Fiona Onasanya and Helen Grant.

But when Onwurah, whose real name is Chinyelu Onwurah, of Eastern Nigerian decent, representing Newcastle Central in the parliament, was told of how Nigerians are proud of her and her colleagues, she simply replied: “I’m not Nigerian, I’m British”.

This generated a lot of controversies back home even as the Nigerian Government had sent congratulatory letters to them.

Although most of her childhood experience were in Britain, as she was born there, she had only been to Nigeria once and that was when the Civil War broke, making her and her siblings return to the UK as refugees.

The experience of the war may have made her disengage herself from the country. Although denouncing Nigeria while being told how Nigerians are proud of her spoke of insensitivity and pointless pride, to many.

In athletics, notable names have also switched allegiance to other countries; Edidiong Offinime Odiong, Abass Abubakar, Kemi Adekoya, Lolade Sodiya now Bashirah Sharifah, Aminat Yusuf Jamal (Bahrain) and Femi Ogunade (Qatar). They all complain of maltreatment of athletes and unprofessionalism as reasons.

It is common place in Nigeria to find Nigerians who schooled abroad getting the choicest of jobs and being more exposed to opportunities, including political appointments, back home. It is also common place to see just any caucasian man being handed major contracts with military and police guards. Many of such contracts, many argue, can be better handled by home based Nigerians. Many also hold that while Joshua is a star, even more so because of his humility, if he had been a Nigerian in Nigeria with the same achievement, he would not get this level of recognition and respect from the Nigerian government.

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