When I heard one of my nephews was not good at playing football, my heart skipped several beats. And this was well before PSG did a madness to sign Neymar.
His mother later said he did well as a goalkeeper and, at five years old, there’s still enough time for him to become competent in a more advanced position.
Not many kids of today are like the ones before the late ’80s who would reply ‘What will you be when you grow up?’ with ‘Doctor’, ‘Lawyer’, ‘Engineer’ without thinking.
Now? Kids won’t even tell you, you’ll just start seeing signs of Wizkid, DJ Cuppy and whoever else is famous and making money.
Enter Neymar, who became the world’s most expensive footballer and will be earning a staggering N270m per week after tax (after tax o, Mother Mary) when he signed for PSG last week.
That’s obscene money for someone who simply does what he does best, play football. He’s really good at it and, going by the money being thrown around in the sport lately, deserves to earn such.
Dream come true.
Then someone who turned out to be a very good medical student (another lifesaver among us) is rewarded with the whooping sum of N10,000?
Surely it won’t be the only prize she’ll get for her academic brilliance but that amount simply emphasises why many young people today would rather be a Neymar, or just ‘Skiboribo’, ‘Skekerobo ske’ and be a wicked producer than, I don’t know, study overnight to pass exams with a lamp because, NEPA, in an environment where we have lecturers who would fail you for no reason.
Humour me!
And that’s not even the best part. God help her if she ends up in a government hospital and she’ll be counting down when next her colleagues would go on strike.
Nigerian students go through too much already than to be getting rewarded with N10,000 in this economy – only God knows how much the bank will take as bank charge.
Also, maybe it’s not only in Nigeria that a group presenting an award or cash prize would go the lengths of printing a banner that would probably cost more than the award, but was it even necessary? No.
Maybe it’s the banner and not the amount that’s got my blood boiling, or it’s the thought of my nephew not being a good outfield player just yet.
I’m just pissed at it all!
And now, I’ve sent my in-law a text to remind her of our agreement to change my nephew’s position from goalkeeper. There are goals to be achieved and scored aplenty!
Nobody’s got time for paltry rewards anymore.