This is an article written by Ben Murray- Bruce; the founder of the Silverbird Entertainment Group and the Senator representing Bayelsa East in the Nigerian
National Assembly.
Read Below….
Nigeria’s sports sector may have
ignored Anthony Joshua but Nigerians did not and certainly I did not. Recall that Silverbird honored him at Man of the Year two years ago.
Today, we are all very proud of Anthony after his stunning defeat of Wladimir Klitschko.
The whole world is celebrating this young man with former world heavy weight champion, Mike Tyson saying Joshua “has
changed boxing”.
Joshua may well be the most popular man in world sport for the next few months, but
here is the thing, the world media are playing up Anthony Joshua as a British man.
Yes, Britain did a lot for him, and probably more than Nigeria did, but Nigeria must put all that behind and now embrace Joshua.
I had said that he should be congratulated by the government and invited to the Presidential Villa and made an ambassador
for brand Nigeria and I thank God that two days after I made that call, the minister of information congratulated Joshua and said
the federal government will invite him.
Irrespective of what happened in the past, as a nation we must reclaim Anthony Joshua and show him that we are proud of
him and then promote him to the world as the epitome of Nigeria’s youth.
The federal government can arrange a global tour for Anthony Joshua and get Nollywood stars and our music stars to join
him.
They should arrange for him to meet captains of industry such as Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Tony Elumelu and Jim Ovia.
This would spotlight Nigeria’s culture and economy to the world.
Believe it or not, by associating with this brilliant young man, Nigeria can improve her image much more than the billions to
be spent on our embassies and high commissions worldwide.
If we as a nation refuse or neglect to embrace Joshua with eagerly open arms, the UK will not. They will celebrate him, project him and promote him and while
they are doing that, Joshua will also celebrate the UK, project UK and promote UK.
The young man obviously thirsts for Nigeria and Africa. He even has a tattoo of Africa with Nigeria outlined on his right upper
arm. The young man is passing on a subliminal message. He is still open to
Nigeria despite the snub he got from our
sport sector.
The young man has such a compelling story
that we can use to sell him and Nigeria.
From a bricklayer in London, he overcame
an arrest for dealing cannabis, reinventing
himself as an amateur boxer and he
became an Olympic champion and now the
heavy weight champion of the world. This
is a story of the sheer Nigerian grit that has
seen Nigerians rise to the top all over the
world. With Joshua, we can show the world
that there is much, much more to Nigeria
than internet scams, corruption and
terrorism.
In fact, Nigeria is even late in the game. We
should have embraced Joshua as far back
as 2012 after he won the Olympic Gold
medal for Britain. The Queen of England
even awarded him an MBE! Do you know
what it takes to earn an MBE? But better
late than never! We must begin to show
him that east or west, home is best and
home is Nigeria, the country tattooed on
his right arm!
One thing we have to realize is that England
wants Anthony Joshua but Nigeria needs
him. Ironically, he does not need Nigeria so
Nigeria must make him want us.
Nigerian must not underestimate the big
difference a single individual can make.
Today, sports contributes 2 per cent of
Jamaica’s economy chiefly because of Usain
Bolt. That is no mean achievement.
And Usain Bolt is not just affecting the
Jamaican sports industry. Jamaica has
witnessed a steady growth in tourist
visitors with an increase of 8 per cent in
one year alone. The over three million
people visiting Jamaica are not just coming
because of reggae music, they are coming
because Jamaica is synonymous with Usain
Bolt. And this is important to Jamaica
because the demand for sugar, perhaps the
mainstay of their economy, has been
steadily decreasing worldwide. Does that
sound familiar? Do I hear somebody say
something about crude oil?
Usain Bolt also brings jobs to Jamaica in
other ways. According to Damon McLean, a
representative of the Jamaican sports
sector, “All the ads that Bolt does – he tries
to do them in Jamaica and that’s unlike
everyone else because a lot of producers
will try to shoot elsewhere. Gatorade and
Puma have to shoot here and give jobs to
people.”
Now, remove Usain Bolt’s name and insert
the name Anthony Joshua. Do the same
thing with Jamaica and insert Nigeria.
