Our Golden Paralympians
Whereas disabled Nigerian sportsmen at the Paralympics always post impressive performances in the games yet hardly get recognition or mere mention by our news media.
Whereas such superlative performances never attract sponsored live transmissions on our TV stations.
Whereas such gold medalists had been conveyed in "molue " buses in the past....on arrival at our airports....their gold medals still hanging on their necks .
Whereas Nigerian female football has recorded far greater achievements than male football.
Whereas such commendable achievements have not led our companies to sponsor female football...or our government to encourage female footballers.
Whereas it is on record that even our foreign-based professional female footballers were given less than $50 as match bonuses after winning an important competitive international match.
Whereas I see no difference in skill levels and entertainment values in Nigerian male and female football .
Short of boring you with specifics, Nigerian sportsmen at the Olympic games could win just one bronze medal at the just-concluded events at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
They won zero medal four years ago at the London Olympics ...like they did in so many other editions except an occasional solitary bronze by the entire contingent !
The only exception being the Atlanta Olympics where Nigeria won three gold medals, such dismal showings had been the rule...not the exceptions!
Yet, these able-bodied non-achievers so readily get countless sponsors in Nigerian companies to beam their mediocre performances live to us over thousands of miles.
The same scenarios play out in purely footballer competitions as male footballers get all the hype, the attention and the financial backing yet post disappointing results in an unending manner.
What makes the achievements of a disabled person less salutary by our reckoning than the fumblings of so-called able bodied persons ?
What makes repeat superlative performance of females less commendable than mediocre achievements of males ?
What is wrong with our collective psyche as a nation ?
Dr Tosin Akindele is a medical practitioner and public affairs analyst.