1983 Flying Eagles demands scholarship, shares from FG

Thirty years after qualifying Nigeria for her first World Cup, the members of the 1983 Flying Eagles squad are appealing to the Federal Government to remember the portion of the Nigerian National anthem that says: “The Labour of our Heroes past shall never be in Vain” and fulfill the scholarship promise made to the team.
Led by their US-based Assistant Captain, Paul Okoku, the players are saddened that 30 years after their great feat for the country, no government has deemed it necessary to honour the promise made to the team in 1983 at Mainland Hotel, Oyingbo, Lagos State.
Okoku disclosed that he set up a meeting with the Director General of the National Sports Commission Hon. Gbenga Egbeleye, who has shown tremendous support to the team’s plight.
According to Okoku, the entire squad, made up of the likes of Humphery Edobo, Tunde Disu, Yisa Shofoluwe, are appealing to the government of President Goodluck Jonathan to come to their aide for a gift 30 years overdue.
He also revealed that aside the scholarship promise, the players where also given shares in Coca-Cola and Shell Petroleum, another promise that has eluded them till date.
Okoku said: “If the Scholarship was given to the players as promised, some of us that didn’t have the wherewithal to pursue our education would have gone to school.
“Thirty years is a long time and we are pleading with the Federal Government to give us the monetary equivalent of the scholarship and it wouldn’t be out of place for a national award to be included.
“As YSFON products then, the government saw the need for us to continue our education by making that promise and it is sad that we were left to suffer for the honour we brought to this great country.”