Pilloried for playing football with gusto despite his status as the state’s number two citizen,
Edo State Deputy Governor Comrade Phillip Shaibu , has vowed to keep on staring for Bendel Insurance Football Club as they bid for a return to the Nigeria Professional Football League. MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN reports.
Edo State Deputy Governor Comrade Phillip Shaibu has vowed to carry on playing for the state’s foremost club, Bendel Insurance, adding his presence as a ‘celebrity player’ is c aimed at reviving the fortune of the club.
Though pilloried for playing football with gusto despite his status as the state’s number two citizen, Shaibu helped the Edo State’s soccer team to win the coveted soccer gold medal during last year’s National Sports Festival hosted by the state. Yet, many have also queried his presence for Bendel Insurance who are now featuring in the second tier Nigeria National League (NNL), but the ‘sports-mad’ Shaibu is having none of that.
“ Some criticisms can be very good when it achieved certain set objectives and my playing for Bendel Insurance is one of them,” the sport-loving Shaibu said on the eve of the Sportsville awards gala in Lagos.“ The truth is that I love sports and I can feature in almost 10 sports if I want because I did so many sports as an undergraduate at the University of Jos and I actually featured in many sports during the NUGA Games back then.
“ I’m good with football, cycling, tennis, badminton, swimming, cycling, golf and so forth; and God has given me strong bones and judging by my last training with Bendel Insurance, the coach said ‘I’m still fit’ as such, you’ll see me again this season playing for Bendel Insurance,” he said amid rocky laughter.
Yet Shaibu admitted that the task of returning Bendel Insurance to its preeminent position on the Nigerian domestic scene is a serious business and insisted that the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led government would leave no stone untouched in getting the job done.
“From the outset, we knew one of the problems with Bendel Insurance is bureaucracy because it’s a government owned club and we realised we have to think outside the box in order to run a very successful club,” Shaibu further said.
“ Bureaucracy is what is killing government clubs but from day-one during our electioneering campaign, the Governor told me that I would directly be in charge of sports and youth development and he has given us the enabling environment and support since he gave me the mandate.
“When we audited the team , we discovered that Bendel Insurance have over 300 staffs unfortunately, the club was not making any money at all.
“The club was not even able to pay salaries but we have been able to turn things around; apart from retaining the name of the club as Bendel Insurance, we also had to clean up the system as well as that of Edo Queens-the state’s women football club.
“We have overhauled the team and rebranded the two teams because the idea is to ensure the at the two clubs are run professionally. Bendel Insurance have no business playing in the NNL as such, we are going to do everything to ensure that the club returned to the NPFL .”
Indeed, the task to rebuild both Bendel Insurance and Edo Queens recently got further boost recently when Sterling Bank paid an impressive Fifty Million Naira (N50M) sponsorship fee in order to emblazoned its name on the jerseys of both Bendel Insurance and Edo Queens.
“ Of course, that was huge sum of money but that is just a starting point; we know that we need much of private-sector funding in order to run both clubs successfully and we are building very disciplined teams to meet the aspirations of our sponsors,” Shaibu noted.
“ As a rule, we don’t owe salaries and as early as the 24th of every month , we pay salaries of both Bendel Insurance and Edo Queens. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic when the league was even in recess, we did not cut their salaries and we paid as at when due to them. “
It is also noteworthy that Edo State is not limiting its efforts to only football and Shaibu explained that the moribound Ogbe tennis Hard Court would soon be revived , adding the now popular 10km Okpepe Road Race would further get adequate attention.
He explained: “ Edo is not known only for football and that is why we are making conscious efforts at revitalizing all sports and all our plans would come to light by the time the new board of the state’s sports commission is sworn into office.
“ In fact, you would be surprised with the calibre of big people that would head our sport associations because some of them are captains of industries and this will go a long way in bring back the good old days for sports in Edo State.”
Shaibu said the state has invested so much sporting facilities across the state to ensure that talented youths are exposed to quality training so that the state’s catch-them-young policy would not be a mirage.
He remarked: “In terms of sporting facilities, Edo State is number one today because we invested so well for the National Sports Festival and today we have turned the Ogbe Stadium to Wembley or Maracana as it were while we are going to have mini-stadia across all the 18 local governments .
“ in fact, four of those mini stadiums are ready and we have even gone beyond that by building courts in some selected schools and such courts are marked in such a way that it can accommodates basketball, handball, lawn tennis and so forth.”