Opinion by Tijani Adebisi
It’s a goa—– oa—–oa—-oal! Goa—-oa—oal!!”
That’s the typical thundering of voices around television sets or theatre screens in homes, offices, hotels and telly viewing centres in villages, town and cities across the length and breadth of Nigeria. All woes and worries get cast aside as soccer fans jubilate excitedly over the scoring feat of yet another sharpshooter of a striker who had deftly fired the ball into the opponents’ net.
The scenario could have been playing out in Europe, Asia, and the Americas or anywhere in the soccer-loving world. Such cohesive magic and festive comradeship is the single most effective means of bonding the diverse nationalities of the country together, albeit momentarily.
Beyond the cross-cultural bonding with which soccer brightens faces of citizens across all strata of society, there is yet a grossly overlooked gold mine that’s linked to same round leather game And this brings to the fore, the patriotic concerns of Dr. Seguin Odegbami, MON, the Chief Executive Officer of Eagle Sports Radio and a former Super Eagles big shot. He has been consistently in the fore of promoting the football game and other sports in the country.
While immersing himself in the fun and fireworks of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament at the various playing venues in Ivory Coast, the soccer maestro took time off to share his views with NigeriaTravelsMart.com as regards the urgent need to use sports to promote tourism in Nigeria.
“There’s always a travel and tourism market segment in any sports event that’s being organized in any country or region in the world,” he declares. “And that opens up the business reality about the interconnection between sports and tourism. Otherwise known as sports tourism”.
Big Seg, (as he’s fondly called by friends and close associates,) goes further down memory lane, “For over three decades since the IBB ( Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida) administration accorded statutory backing for the recognition of tourism as a pivotal sector of the economy, the potential gains of this great industry remain unharvested.
The annual tourism budget keeps ballooning into millions and billions. Yet the objectives for such national spending consistently get thwarted by self-serving people who would rather have their last dish with the goose laying the golden eggs”.
He explains further, “Countries that truly recognize the economy boosting potentials of tourism put in place the requisite infrastructural facilities that would make it functional. These facilities include a steady supply of electricity, a well-designed network of good roads that opens up the country to safe commuting, uninterrupted supply of pipe borne water and guarantees to the safety and security of both citizens and foreign tourists.
“With my tours here from Abidjan northwards to Yamassoukro and Bouake, I can very confidently tell you that it’s more exciting to enjoy a safari-like ride on the motorways than wasting dollars on flight tickets”, he concluded.
In the light of such educative trade analysis, it’s all obvious that, while it lasted, the AFCON games virtually transformed Ivory Coast into the topmost tourism destination in Africa and that translates to tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollar earnings to the economy of the francophone country.
For now, with the games over and the Super Eagles back into the country after winning a Silver Medal, the goal posts of the post mortem appraisal of their performance keep getting far and further apart. Some critics insist that they had all the chances to bring home the golden trophy. While some blame the players for not putting up their best, others blame the coach who, allegedly, might have taken an overdose of some Ivorian brew and eventually missed on his coaching permutations
Mr. Supo Atobatele, a seasoned journalist, entrepreneur and the publisher of AIR TRANSPORT QUARTERLY, disagrees with such harsh observations: “Scoring their way into second position in a tournament that started with scores of countries is no small achievement,” he explains. “Every other participating country had looked forward to carrying the trophy.”
This balanced view highlights the case of the South African team which placed third in the tournament. After initial hiccups, the South African players had to fight it all out, by will, wit and occasional wrestling, in order to resist the imagined plot to transform their Bafana Bafana team into some Banana Banana hustlers in Cote D’Ivoire.
Tijani Adebisi is a celebrated and veteran Travel and Tourism journalist
