We need to put to an end to the slavery going on in Sports – Mikel Obi
By Godwin Anyebe
John Obi Mikel has said that there is urgent need to put to an end the slavery that is going on in sports and protect young players not just in Nigeria and Africa but also in Europe.
Mikel made this known during the Africa Digital Sports Conference which was part of the programme of activities for this year’s edition of the Vyootopia Festival held at Odin Hall, Wave Beach, Lagos, Nigeria yesterday.
The conference happened in collaboration with Mission89, a Geneva based research, education advocacy organisation working to highlight the dangers of exploitation, human trafficking and irregular migration in and through sports.
According to him, “African Digital Sports Conference relates to me as a young player due to the fact that while growing up, I never had this information, and now that I have played the game for such a long time, I know what young players especially from Africa go through. The reason why we are here today is to make sure young players from Africa are well protected.”
While giving advice to young Africans seeking genuine opportunities abroad, he pointed out that things don’t just come to you, you have to go for them, and it’s all about hard work, discipline and dedication, adding that there are so much talents here in Nigeria but, the handlers of Nigeria must ensure they create an enabling environment in such a way that will make the league more competitive.
“Any player whose aspiration is to play in Europe is in order but, we have to put the right structure here at home in order to make our grassroots football more stronger, ” he noted.
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Also speaking at the event, Lerina Brighton, the Executive Director of Mission89, a Geniver based NGO that’s tackling the exploitation and tracking of youths, said that the purpose of the conference is about bringing information and education to young people, noting that many of them are aspiring footballers, “and we want to inform them about the opportunities available within the sports industry because some of them believe that you have to be a footballer or an athlete in another sport for you to succeed but, there are other opportunities for them to explore”.
Continuing, she disclosed that “another aspect of this forum is also to inform and educate them about the red flags or the risks in the industry because there are fake agents and human traffickers out there who are also poised to defraud aspiring young people who want to make a living out of sport of their money. We want to inform and educate them of the legitimate way of starting a career in sport.”
Speaking on the partnership between Vtoopia and Mission89, she stated that “the space we work in, is the less bright side of sport”.
Her words: “So, there’s a lot darkness involved because we are dealing with irregular migration and trafficking of young people and what we are doing is the prevention of it. It’s also important we have a collaboration with an organisation such as Vtoopia which is outstanding in entertainment and sports. Vtoopia knows how to engage the youths very well, and it’s important we partner with them to disseminate positive information to the youths.”
While reacting to question on new technology in digital sports, he said: “One of the topics we are discussing right now is e-sports, Mission89 has recently undertook a study together with the graduate institute of Genever where we explored the risk of exploiting e-athletes in the gaming sector because many people are playing games online and the fact is, there are many risks there.
“Specifically, there are perpetrators who come to exploit young people online, they start by grooming people online, most especially on Facebook and WhatsApp which is an encrypted platform, the space need to be better monitored and more regulation should be around it.” She added.
On the sustainability the program, she disclosed: “That’s why we are here, and we have a very powerful platform and the result of what we have done within a short time can be felt. For us, this is the beginning of a very powerful initiative, and what Vtoopia does is to engage more with the youths. For instance, in few days, we will have a youth concert and a ball juggle talent which will be kicked off by Vtoopian Ambassador, John Obi Mikel.
