Reno Omokri has berated footballers, entertainers and artistes who end up being broke in their old age and decide to blame the government for it.
According to him, having such a mentally is tantamount to mental laziness.
In a post shared on his X handle, Reno wrote
‘’Footballers Can’t Enjoy The Proceeds of Their Success Alone and Then Outsource Their Failure To Society
Sportsmen, athletes, entertainers, and artists are not the responsibility of the government or society, except where they become civil servants, in which case they are entitled to a pension according to their terms of service.
An example would be Joe Lasisi, a staff of the Nigerian Customs Service, who was paid salaries, benefits and entitlements, even though he earned his own personal money from professional boxing.
It is regrettable if some national icons die broke or broken, however, responsibility for their end state should not shift from them to the public.
When and if they perform national assignments, they should be paid. If they are not paid, I recall that the public always fights for them until they do. Beyond their due payments, they often get gifts of money or property from an appreciative country after winning Mundials and tournaments.
Thereafter, what they do with those monies and property, as well as the largesse they get from their professional lives, is their business. And naturally, they do not share such payments with the government or the public. In fact, many of them do not even pay taxes in Nigeria.
To then grow old in poverty and blame the government or society, either by themselves or through their friends and family, is tantamount to mental laziness and unawareness of how the world works.
Sportspeople, athletes, entertainers, and artists also go broke in Europe, America, Canada and Australia. None of them blame the governments of those nations or even the public.
For example, and please fact-check me: Paul Gascoigne, a former English professional football player who played for England, is broke and suffering from depression after losing his £20 million fortune. Neither he nor his family have blamed anyone—Ditto for Trevor Sinclair.
It would amount to making themselves further objects of ridicule.
Such an entitled mentality means that persons who think like this do not understand how life works and are immature. In truth, they ought to have been placed under the care of persons who understood better how to manage their success and finances and prepare them for retirement.
You can’t enjoy your success alone and then want to outsource your failure to society.”
