Bring Super Eagles back to Lagos - Ebi Egbe

The ever-exciting SUN SPORTS LOUNGE is back with another interesting guest in the lounge. He is a multiple-awards winning sportspreneur and CEO of Monimitchelle Sports Facilities Company.
Renowned for his class and panache that rubs on his works, Ajegunle born FIFA Match Agent, EBI EZEKIEL EGBE in this chat with AKEEM BUSARI, spoke on the several issues concerning sports in Nigeria, even as he rues the unfortunate blackmailing and corruption in the sports facility construction industry.
Enjoy the interview
Good morning sir, please introduce yourself to our esteemed readers?
I am Ebi Ezekiel Egbe. I am the Chief Executive Officer of Monimitchelle Sports Facility Construction company. And I am also a licensed FIFA Match Agent.
I recall you are a FIFA Players' Agent and also a FIFA Match Agent. Which of these are you still doing?
There is a difference between players agent and match agent. I retire as a FIFA's players agent 20 years ago and went into sports infrastructure. However, for about eight years now, I have been a FIFA match agent.
Which matches have you organised in recent times for Nigeria?
Unfortunately, we don't get the opportunities here. We're supposed to be arranging all the Super Eagles games, but I think the NFF has a contract with a Colombian agent, who's doing it for them. Truly, it's time we start looking inwards to encourage our own people. We certainly hope that one day, the NFF, would look towards our direction for such services.
Despite the apathy by the football authorities, your company keeps moving forward. What's the secret?
Monimitchelle is not a desperate company. If you have a better person that can do a better job for you than my company, please go for such person. We're very contented with what we're doing for Nigeria and African football. We keep working on making our brand very reputable and respectable. And if it doesn't work out for us in Nigeria, definitely, other African countries will embrace us.
Let's go down memory lanes, particularly, as an Ajegunle born person. Tell us about the famous Ajegunle Mock African Nations Cup?
As a young boy, I joined other people to start the Mock Nations Cup in Ajegunle. I owned a team in the tournament called Nigeria. From my young age, I have always been involved in football management. True, I never played football, but all my life has been about football.And when I went to Europe, I worked as a player's agent. Unfortunately, I retired as a player's agent due to lack of trust and dishonesty by players, and I delved into sports infrastructure. And so far, it's been very good.
Tell us briefly about the bad and good times you have faced on this sector of the sports industry?
(Smiles) Ummmh, we have had lots of challenges. To survive in a country like our own, and keep Monimitchelle brand at the top of its game, is very tough. There are lots of bad bloods, backstabbing and blackmail from desperate people who want to take what you have, even when they knew that they can't deliver. However, we remain unfazed and unshaken because our end products, always satisfies our clients and the end users. Despite all the unwarranted bad bloods, we remain the numero-uno sports facility company in Nigeria, and it can only get better and bigger.
Apart from Nigeria, which other African countries have you worked?
Yeah, quite a few. We did some jobs in Congo, a couple of years ago. We're supposed to work in Ghana, The Gambia and a few other countries, unfortunately, there are lots of dirty politics in the sector in Africa. Some people rush into the industry, because of the money involved. We have joined bids in Ghana, Cote D'Ivoire, Botswana, The Gambia and Mozambique. Yet, the same politics have always come to play. You know, a guy who can construct a skyscraper might fail to construct a sports facility because it's a specialist sector.
From experience, if you construct a bad pitch, the players who are the end users would complain. And if it's good, you'd get all the praises and accolades. And to the glory of God, we have continued to receive plaudits and commendations from teams from different parts of Africa, who have visited Nigeria and played on the pitches constructed by our company. You have the Enyimba International Stadium, Remo Stars Stadium and Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan, are some of the jobs we have done. As a matter of fact, most of our national teams are using the Remo Stars Stadium pitches to train and play matches. Pitches play pivotal roles in modern day football.
What's the difference between the average synthetic pitch and your own hybrid synthetic pitch?
There's a big difference. There are five different categories of pitches. We have the 100% natural grass, the hybrid stitch, the hybrid natural, the hybrid synthetic and of course, the lowest grade, which is the rubber filled synthetic pitch. Like the one at Legacy pitch, Surulere and the Campos mini-stadium on Lagos Island.
That kind of pitch have been banned in Europe because it's cancerous. These pitches are constructed without the sprinkler system. And when they get hot,they produces cancerous agents. At the FIFA Goal Project in Ugborodo, I told the FIFA officials that I wasn't going to construct a rubber pitch for Nigeria. All the FIFA Goal Project pitches are rubber filled pitches. Monimitchelle is a health friendly company, that cares so much about the wellbeing of our players.
How would you describe yourself?
(Smiles), I am just the guy next door. I believe life, is for the living. I work hard and play hard.
What's your dress sense like?
I love it simple and classy, all the time. And that's what I also try to bring into my work life. Whenever we're working on a pitch, we ensure, we use only the best materials because we don't compromise quality.
And away from your busy work schedules, how do you relax?
Family. I love spending quality time with my family, whenever I can.
Today, Nigeria is on the edge of the precipes and might not qualify for the 2026 World Cup. What's your take on the chances of the Super Eagles?
Right now, all we have to do is stand behind the new coach. I am hoping and praying that we scale through the game against Rwanda. I hope to be there live to watch the game. I learned that Rwanda just constructed a natural hybrid pitch and I want to see the ball behaviour on that pitch. That's the kind of pitch our players use in Europe and I think it's an advantage to our boys.
What can you remember of your childhood growing up in the obviously tough terrains of AJ City?
AJ City is a tough place and you have to be tough to survive in AJ City. You know, families aren't rich and we have to struggle to survive and build ourselves. I am very happy because AJ City made me a tough guy, with a tough skin. Sometimes when the blackmailing comes up, I just smile and take them in my strides because I have got the AJ spirit in me. These blackmailers don't actually know our story and how we got to this position. I am very proud to be an Ajegunle Ambassador.
Let's talk about your immediate family. I gathered also that one of your kids is a footballer. Tell us about him?
Yeah, it's true that one of my kids is a footballer. But if you ask me, I wouldn't want him to play football. Football is a fairytale industry. Yeah, my son presently plays with Juventus U16 team.
As a kid playing football, it's important to note that football might make you forget education. And we know that education is very important. However, Juventus, has a module, that makes education the pathway to professional football. That's the same thing Hon. Kunle Soname, is doing at Remo Stars. At the end of a playing career, either short or long span, you must have something to fall back to and that's the power of education.
Let's talk about your wife. How does she cope with you traversing the globe in the name of sports business?
I tell people that it's only God that gives a good wife. I thank God that I have a fantastic family and a super woman. I call her my superstar, because she's ever encouraging and supportive. Yeah, she's from South Africa, and since we met about 26 years ago in London, it's been a blissful journey, so far. I love to remain a one star general, if you understand what I'm saying (Smiles). I don't believe in polygamy. I love my wife and kids.
What's your view about both Mallam Shehu Dikko and Bukola Olopade at the helm of affairs at the National Sports Commission?
We must understand that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu knows what it takes to build a thriving sports culture. I commend him for changing the sports ministry to the sports commission and of course, bringing sports technocrats to manage the commission. Mallam Shehu Dikko and Bukola Olopade are fantastic guys with proven track records in the sports industry. I want to advise state governments, particularly, Bayelsa State, to copy this template by establishing a sports commission. I have confidence in these guys to positively turn around our sports industry. And I believe that in two years time, we'll begin to reap the fruits of their hardwork and resourcefulness.
As the NFF President for 48 hours, what changes would you bring on board to improve our football?
Firstly, I would transform our sports infrastructure because without adequate infrastructure, the NFF can never succeed. Our football administrators go to Morocco, every day. Twenty years ago, there was nothing there. And today, Morocco is the leading African nation in terms of infrastructural development. Presently, the country is constructing 40 quality pitches. Republic of Benin are constructing 13 pitches, while Cameron are planning to construct 20 pitches. Typical example is the football infrastructure at Remo Stars. Today, both Remo Stars male and female teams are on top of their respective premier leagues. Without adequate and good pitches. your football cannot develop from the grassroots.
You're renowned as classy man. So, if you're to go on holidays, where would that be?
I have been to a lot of places for summer holidays. But I love Saint Tropez, a charming town in the South of French Riviera in France.
In the next five years, where do you hope to see Monimitchelle Sports Facility Company?
I want to take over the African sports facility construction industry. That's my dream.
How much have you been able to sell or promote the African market, particularly, when you attend sports symposium, seminars and conferences to the outside world?
This industry is actually dominated by Europeans. Sometimes, when we go to seminars and I'm given the opportunity to speak at such events, and because I clearly understands the African topography, I talk gleefully about the potentials inherent in the African market.
However, the major problem in Nigeria, is that sports administrators want to be groundsmen and that's a big problem. To be a groundsman, you must be trained. Sports administrators should face their jobs and not dabble into a terrain they actually knew nothing about.
All these people see is the money and that's why we're having poor facilities everywhere. These people want to be contractors and when they don't get the job, they resort to blackmail. They would blackmail the best companies and corner the construction jobs for themselves and of course, they would fail woefully.
It is a fact that we lack maintenance culture in Nigeria. And today, there is heavy traffic of football on the Mobolaji Johnson Arena pitch without adequate maintainance. What's your view about that?
Actually you can play 8-10 matches a day on the turfs I construct. But you must maintain it. The MJ Arena in Lagos is one of the best pitches in Nigeria. But there's no maintenance on the pitch for over four years now. Same thing with Enyimba Stadium in the past three years, Kakanda Stadium in Katsina State too has enjoyed zero maintenance in over 16 years. The only pitches enjoying regular maintenance are at the Remo Stars Stadium.
What's the true story behind the uncompleted renovation works at the Agege and Teslim Balogun stadiums?
Greed. On the Agege Stadium, the Lagos State Governor asked me to go and work on the Agege Stadium and I went ahead to do all the internal and external drainages. Unfortunately, the guys at the Lagos State Sports Commission refused to give us a contract award letter. Again, they resorted to blackmail. I have photo evidences of the job we did at Agege stadium.
The Sports Commission guys later gave the award letter to another company, that's not specialised in facility construction. And so, when the new Director-General of the Sports Commission came into office, he allegedly started work on the file on his table. Painfully, Agege Stadium project is stalled and that's bad for football in Lagos State.
As a typical Ijaw man, what's your favourite traditional food?
I love yellow soup. It's the typical Bayelsa traditional soup. And outside Nigeria, I try to eat healthy meals.
Q: How do you manage to keep your fit and trim physical shape?
(Laughs) Healthy and intermittent diets. I also try to live a healthy and stress-free life.
Advice to the duo of Dikko and Olopade?
Honestly, I'd tell them to bring the Super Eagles back to Abuja or Lagos. Give the national teams a home. That would be one of their greatest achievements. Let them also transform the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos to a football stadium, and make Abuja, an athletic stadium. Revamp the National Stadium in Lagos, because that's the traditional home of our national teams.
Lastly, what's your message for Nigeria sports investors and stakeholders?
The sports industry is not cheap, but it's also easy to make money from it. Let's concentrate on building more facilities to support grassroots football.