From Alaba to Saka: How Nigerian footballers playing for foreign nations are remembering their roots
Although they may have turned down the invitation to play for their country of origin by ditching the Nigerian national team – the Super Eagles for other foreign nations, some footballers of Nigerian origin are now reconnecting with their roots through charity.
From David Alaba, the 30-year-old Real Madrid defender who chose Austria over Nigeria to Bukayo Saka, Arsenal’s winger who is a key pillar in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man England squad for the 2022 Qatar World Cup, the football stars are funding charity works to help communities and people in Nigeria, their country of origin.
A Nigerian-based sports journalist and Editor of WesternPost, Tosin Oluwalowo, told Neusroom on Thursday, November 17, 2022, that Alaba and Saka’s donation is an indication that the players “though play internationally for other countries still remember and connect with their roots.”
In September 2022, Alaba, who is born to a Nigerian father and Filipino mother, donated an ultra-modern bio-degradable toilet facility in the Ogere Remo community in Ogun State, Southwest Nigeria.
According to Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, who announced the donation, Alaba is also planning a football training centre in Nigeria.
On Thursday, November 17, 2022, BigShoe, an international charity, announced that Bukayo Saka funded the surgery of 120 children suffering from hernias and brain tumours in Kano state, Northwest Nigeria.
This is coming barely three days before the commencement of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar where the Arsenal winger would be flying the flag of the Three Lions – the England national team as one of the best young footballers in the world.
“I feel blessed to be in a position where I can contribute to making the children’s lives easier and better through these surgeries. I still feel very connected to Nigeria,” says Saka whose parents were both raised in Nigeria before moving to London where he was born in 2001.
“For me, it is very important to use my abilities to have a positive impact where I can and I have to say a big thank you to the whole BigShoe team for making this possible.”
In 2020, Saka said he chose the Three Lions of England over the Super Eagles of Nigeria because of the transformation of the team under Gareth Southgate.
Oluwalowo, the sports journalist, who described Saka’s donation as heartwarming, believes that “if we had pushed more into luring them to play for Nigeria or have a very good enabling environment in place, they as well might have chosen to play for Nigeria rather than the countries they now play for.”
Before the new kids on the block, Nigerian footballers like Kanu Nwankwo, Obafemi Martins, Odion Ighalo, and Mikel Obi among others have also donated a huge sum of their wages to charity.
In 2000, Kanu started the Kanu Heart Foundation which has funded the heart surgeries of over 500 children across Nigeria.
Aside from donating to charities, Odion Ighalo also runs the Ighalo Orphanage Home in Ijegun, a rural community in Lagos, where he houses and nurtures children and neglected families.
