Former Super Falcons striker, Desire Oparanozie has taken a swipe at people who are criticising Predident Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the rewards he doled out to players of the Nigerian female national team for winning this year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, Sports247 reports.
While some Nigerians argue that $100,000 for each player, plus three-bedroom flat and national honour of OON is ‘too much’ in terms of rewards for a football team, Oparanozie insists President Tinubu should be praised instead of castigated.
The former Guingamp of France attacker countered critics by declaring, “They say it’s way too much and I ask, ‘Way too much in what sense?’ People are now comparing the teachers, civil servants and whatnot… saying how much they take home and all that.
“They are also wondering why the Super Falcons come home with a trophy, and they are getting lots of money with all of that.
“See, sometimes it’s your opinion and the way you feel, actually, but we should not be insensitive to these things.”
Oparanozie, who captained the Falcons for a while but was controversially removed after speaking out in a heated demand for regular payment of their entitlements, went on to explain why she insists the recent rewards were in order.
She declared, “First of all, don’t compare these things with other professions. This is the Super Falcons’ moment. You have no idea how much these girls have … let me not use the word suffered …
“(You don’t know) what they have gone through over the years before they could receive this kind of award or get this kind of reward at the end of the day.”
She concluded by pointing out that female footballers do not earn as much as their male colleagues, hence her verdict that they should be rewarded massively whenever they make the country proud.
“I know a lot of people liken women footballers to men. They think women footballers make as much money as men do, but that’s not the case,” she submitted curtly.
