Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Nigerian Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Prof. Steve Ugbah, has confirmed that there may be some Nigerians who came to watch the World Cup in Russia last year that are still stranded in the country. He said that the Nigerian embassy in the country has not been able to do anything in that regards as those who are stranded have not approached it.
Ugbah said that the Federal Government will not hesitate to act once it has evidence that there are still in the country Nigerians yet to return home.
He also disclosed that the absence of mobilization was one of the factors that led to the early crashing out of the Super Eagles in the early stage of the Russia 2018 tournament.
Ugbah who opened up on the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup during his recent visit to Abuja, said the international community, particularly the Russian community, were solidly behind the Super Eagles to cheer them to victory, but unfortunately, the Nigerian fan base was weak. Excerpt:
Are there still Nigerians stranded in Russia?
There are. I assumed there are Nigerians that are still stranded in Russia, though they have not come forth to the embassy. When they do, then we take care of them accordingly.
So, the government is not doing anything about them at the moment?
I don’t know the kind of question you are asking. If the government knows that there are stranded Nigerians and the stranded Nigerians have come forward, definitely, we will do something about it. I can tell you that my number one responsibility in Russia or anywhere else that I am serving is to ensure the safety, the security and the welfare of Nigerians. So, once we know, once we document, once they approach us, once we are approached, I can tell you that we will respond almost instantly. So, if we know that there are Nigerians who are stranded in Russia, there is no way we are going to turn a blind eye to it; there is no way we are going to say it is not our business. It is our business; it is to find a solution, to find a way to bring them back home safely. I can tell you that under my watch, I have vowed that no Nigerian out of our own actions should die on Russian soil, okay! And that is what we are working towards.
Since there are reports that some of them are still in Russia, do you have idea of what has been happening to them?
I have no idea. But I can guess some of them are squatting, some of them, perhaps, don’t even have food to eat, some of them may be involved in other things that may put us in a very bad light as a country.
So, they are not quarantined in a place?
Not really. If they are picked up, they will be put in detention camps. If they are picked up, they will be processed for deportation if they do not have a valid visa. And I suspect that those who came for the World Cup have the FAN ID that gave them that passage into Russia. But I am not aware that they have been quarantined anywhere or we’ve picked them up and we’ve put them in one place. We did that with the first batch, we did that with the second batch just to ensure that they were in a safe place before they were evacuated.
And you don’t in anyway know if the Russian government is doing anything about them or planning anything about them?
I can tell you that if the Russian government picks them up, they will lock them up, put them in detention camps and deport them. But when I go back, I will find out whether or not such Nigerians do indeed exist and they are in their custody.
It was alleged that the Nigerian Mission in Russia which you are heading failed to mobilise Nigerians to attend the matches to cheer the Super Eagles despite the large numbers of Nigerians that travelled to Russia for the match. What actually happened?
Number one, it is not the responsibility of the Nigerian Embassy to mobilise Nigerians. That is number one. Number two, the embassy was given zero kobo for the World Cup. So, everything we did about the World Cup, we did out of our own personal pockets. The Nigerian Football Federation did not provide us with any logistical support. Even though we welcomed the Supporters Club to the embassy, we were not responsible for the Supporters Club, we were not responsible for doing anything except the things that we took our own initiative to do. We were asked to go and look at venues, we were asked to suggest hotels, we were asked to do this at no cost to the embassy. How do you do that? How do you go and scout for venues? How do you go and scout for places where Nigerians can display their artefacts and cuisine? How do you go to places at no cost to the embassy? So, we had to chew up those cost; we had to find the money because we knew it was our responsibility to cater for the needs and welfare of Nigerians who were going to be coming to the World Cup. But there was no provision at all for us to provide any services for Nigerians during the World Cup. So, if you hear about anything that the embassy did, we did it out of our own pockets and we are still paying for it. The embassy itself is indebted to the tune of thousands of dollars right now as we speak. I am here in Nigeria to try and beg my ogas at the ministry to please reimburse us for the expenses we incurred for the World Cup.
There was also the issue of ticket racketeering whereby some Nigerians got tickets at very exorbitant price. Did you receive such reports of tickets sold to the highest bidders?
No. I did not receive any of such reports. But what I was hoping for as an ambassador was that at least, I will get some courtesy tickets. I did not receive one. I had to buy my own tickets to attend the World Cup matches that Nigeria featured in. Every staff member that attended any of the World Cup matches, we attended out of our own pockets. So, whether there was racketeering, which I assume will happen as a normal business practise, or whether or not people were scalping tickets or scamming people for tickets, I am not aware. But it will not be surprising to me if that occurred.
What impact did the Nigerian Tourism Authorities make in Russia at that time?
Zero, zero impact!
So, they were not able to galvanise the people?
Look, we played Croatia in Russia; we played Argentina in St. Petersburg. Reason: We were outnumbered, almost one thousand to one at the stadia that we played in. We were hoping that if the embassy got involved, we have a sizable Nigerian population in Russia that wanted to attend the games. We could not mobilise them because we had zero dollars, zero naira to do the mobilization. We were outnumbered in all the stadia that we played, all three stadia. In Kaliningrad, it was the same thing, okay! So, that was really unfortunate. We expected to showcase Nigeria. This was our opportunity to showcase Nigeria, this was our opportunity to market Nigeria, it never happened and we were really saddened by that. People who came close to Nigeria were very happy to associate themselves with us. People were ready to cheer Nigeria to victory. The second game that we played, we won and that galvanised the international community and Russian community behind us. They were solidly behind us to beat Argentina, but we were outnumbered, almost ten thousand to one.
Was it because they are our in-laws?
Ahmed Musa was a star in Russia. Mikel Obi was a known quantity in Russia. Alex Iwobi, Ndidi, you name them. They were known quantities in Russia. Reason: The European League, the Premier League. They watch it, maybe not as religiously as we Nigerians. But these were known quantities. So, their support for us, yes, most of them wanted to see Ahmed Musa and Ahmed Musa did a fantastic job. Yes, Mikel Obi has a relationship with a Russian girl; that may have also contributed. But they knew Nigeria, they knew Nigeria’s antecedents in terms of soccer and they were all ready to support us and to really back us. And they did, they did.
The tourism officials, do you think the government should sanction them?
Who are the tourism officials? When you say tourism officials, is there like an entity called Ministry of Tourism that was supposed to be…
There is the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), there is the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) led by Runsewe…
Okay, Runsewe was in Russia. Runsewe came to the embassy, Runsewe, we attended one event together. That was the extent of our contact with Runsewe.
But he is usually seen as a great mobilizer, why did he fail?
I don’t know whether Russia was just an anomaly. I just don’t have any idea of what happened. In fact, Runsewe and his group donated some items to us. But guess what? Throughout, the World Cup, we never received one flag, we never received any of the World Cup paraphernalia associated with Nigeria until after the World Cup. Then we got mufflers, we got flags. So, what are we going to do with this?
So, there was poor arrangement?
I don’t know. Those are your words.
Do you think the inability of the National Council for Arts and Culture to mobilise Nigerians led to our team crashing out early?
I cannot attribute the failure of our Super Eagles to advance to the knock out phase of the FIFA 2018 World Cup to only one factor or organization. First, I’m not sure about the mandate of the National Council for Arts and Culture regarding the FIFA 2018 World Cup with respect to mobilizing Nigerian fans. So, it would be presumptuous of the Embassy of Nigeria in the Russian Federation to blame NCAC for failure to mobilize Nigerians in Russia. Second, other organizations were also in the Russian Federation, ostensibly, to mobilize support for our Super Eagles. They included, but were not limited to, the following organizations: the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), the Nigerian House Project Committee (NHPC), the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the Super Eagles Supporters’ Club. The reality that confronted us in Russia during the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament was that the whole world was eager to cheer our Super Eagles to victory. Unfortunately, our fan base was weak, and Nigeria was overwhelmed by the fans from Croatia, Iceland, and Argentina.
What in your opinion, are other factors that led to Nigeria crashing out early?
Football, just like any competitive sports, involves a combination of technical, administrative, and skill factors, in addition to luck. As for the Super Eagles and the 2018 FIFA World Cup, our players were very prepared to win it all. Unfortunately, luck was not on our side. So, we crashed out. Other football powerhouses such as Germany and Brazil also crashed out. Almighty Italy did not even make it to the big dance. It’s nothing unusual. That’s why it is called a game. I believe the Super Eagles are a team of the future given their youthfulness. I’m confident that they will advance further in the next FIFA World Cup tournament. We are grateful to the Super Eagles for a memorable outing in Russia, and wish them success in the ongoing AFCON tournament.
Did Russians feel bad that the Super Eagles crashed out at the group stage of the match?
Oh! They were all crying! They were so disappointed. They wanted our Super Eagles to go to the next round. If you were there at the stadium in St. Petersburg, you would have seen the pain in the hearts and the eyes and the minds and the faces of the Russians when we failed to make it. But Nigerians and Super Eagles gave a good account of themselves because they fought Argentina to almost a standstill. So, on that score, I can say that yes, indeed, the Russians were very sympathetic towards us and I think the Nigerians earned their respect in that regard. They knew we had a very tough match. Argentina is easily ranked top three in the world and yet, they had a hard time defeating us. So, it was a sad ending, but I think that they left a lasting impression in the minds of Russians.