November 18, (THEWILL) – Three weeks ago, Harrison Jalla, the chairman of the Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria (PFAN) Task Force, drew attention to the deteriorating health condition of the youngest member of Nigeria’s 1980 AFCON-winning Green Eagles, Henry Nwosu.
Jalla disclosed through a social media post that Nwosu was suffering from a stroke and desperately needed medical attention. The erratic midfielder, who spent 11 years representing Nigeria’s senior national team, also competed for the Green Eagles at the AFCON in 1982, 1984, and 1988. In 1991, he retired from representing Nigeria internationally and started coaching.
His worsening condition was occasioned by slurred speech and permanent confinement to his bed. Jalla appealed to the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, and other capable Nigerians to swiftly come to the aid of the football icon, who dedicated his playing days to championing Nigeria’s football reckoning on the continent.
It was an occasion for the PFAN to once more bemoan the unfortunate situation in the country that is bereft of welfare programmes to cater for health maladies that can befall the country’s sports ambassadors. Jalla noted that this was unlike what is obtainable in other countries such as the Netherlands, where other Nigerian ex-internationals have something to fall back on in old age.
In the entire period that the local league had existed in Nigeria, only Enugu Rangers have a welfare package and only because the club’s ex-players in the US make regular contributions to keep the policy alive.
Last week, another ex-footballer, Segun Odegbami, revisited the worsening condition of Nwosu, his 1980 AFCON teammate, as a rallying cry for help to keep the icon alive. While acknowledging that Nwosu had been given some assistance, Odegbami noted that Nwosu had been in the same hospital for six weeks and could no longer sit without support. Walking was impossible and he was gradually losing his sight and his memory. He can only be fed with liquids only and he cannot even talk audibly.
The Femi Otedola Foundation, which had come to the aid of ex-Nigerian captain, Christian Chukwu, when they bankrolled his surgery and rehabilitation when he was down with prostrate a couple of years ago, has come to Nwosu’s help as well as the government of Imo and Delta States, where he was being treated.
When the alarms went off with the public cry for help from Jalla and Odegbami, the groundswell of support grew as assistance came from the Sports Ministry and from Governors of Lagos, Edo and Ondo States, as Nwosu’s condition began to improve after six weeks spent at the Asaba Specialist Hospital. When journalists visited on Thursday, last week, the player could sit up and answer questions.
He thanked all those who took an interest in his welfare and prayed for their continuous support to continue his recovery progress. His younger sister, Kate Kogolo, who revealed that the family had spent N3 million treating him in Imo State, was full of gratitude for the assistance her brother received and said they were going to fly Nwosu abroad for further treatment.
While Nwosu is fortunate to continue his recovery, not many ex-players make it through tough health conditions alive. An example is Nigeria’s goal-scoring icon Rashidi, one of the most prolific and patriotic footballers ever to don the Green-White-Green of the Super Eagles, who sadly passed on to glory in May 2012, aged just 48.
After years of meritorious service to Nigerian football, the mercurial striker called it quits and hung his boots in 2005. But, he suffered from depression brought on by a number of factors that included losing his life savings in a failed investment – apparently, he had given his money in cash to a confidant, who was then killed by armed robbers that made away with all the money.
Yekini died unceremoniously in 2012, after having suffered ill health for some time without the succour of welfare assistance or help from a country to which he gave everything.
That is why Jalla’s drive for the PFAN to get proper representation in NFF, with its Collective Bargaining agreement in place to run its welfare programmes for current and retired footballers as an independent organisation is a dire need at this time. The leadership of the NFF have a responsibility to see this happen quickly to avoid another Yekini story and as a way to appreciate these ambassadors for their service.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
