Nigeria: Football, Age Determination and Record Keeping

Page to age rage

As the FIFA Under-17 World Cup 2013 plays away in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) we find ourselves being ambivalent about the players my other footballing country of Nigeria has fielded. I support England be reason of birth and the Netherlands having lived there for 12 years. [Wikipedia]

We as fans of a football loving country are always taken by the amazing performance of our players, as somewhere in our minds we wonder whether the players are really as young as they state they are.

In 2008, David Moyes, then Everton manager made this comment about Yakubu Aiyegbeni, “He's only 25, albeit a Nigerian 25, and so if that is his age he's still got a good few years ahead of him.” [BBC News]

Whatever he might have been alluding to, he created the perception probably long held that some Nigerian players might well be many years older than the ages presented in their contractual documents.

Age fraud and overwhelming successes

Age fraud in association football is well documented in Africa and Asia, Nigeria was even suspended and sanctioned for fielding over-aged players in certain FIFA tournaments. [Wikipedia]

Nigeria is the most successful team in the U-17 World Cup tournament having been in six finals, winning three, followed by Brazil in five finals, winning two, but we must come to a stage where we are confident that we are playing on a level field without taking advantage of our opponents.

We must be in the eligible age range and what should show is our football talent and prowess in our taking the laurels. This however is not to take away from the successes of teams past and the pride we have in all their victories.

Some science to the rescue

In 2009, FIFA introduced the mandatory use of Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which apparently has 99% accuracy in determining how old a person is up until the age of 17 after which it is difficult for medical expertise to determine the age that accurately. [BBC Sport]

The MRI system of age determination checks the grade of ossification/fusion in the distal radius [bones at the wrist] where fusion suggests the subject is above the age of 17 and thereby ineligible to compete in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup tournament. [NIH] [BBC Sport]

Courtesy of Wikipedia [Source]

Many African countries first rejected this age determination process, but it is the best science could do for countries that have poor documentation processes that have no proper trust or verification systems to ascertain the provenance or authenticity of birth certificates or declarations. [BBC News]

My scepticism is predicated on whether our kind of physiology is catered for and whether the scanners are calibrated to account to possible racial differences in bone structure, environment, diet and other factors. However, this is the best system we have to rely on now.

A poor record-keeping culture

We do not have proper systems to register life births in hospitals or maternity homes, our municipalities have poor record keeping systems for the registration of births, of marriages and of deaths; beyond which there is no centralised archiving system to maintain such information if acquired.

What we have adopted is a system of swearing affidavits, many of which are taken on self-recognisance given the weight of a notary public and then rubber stamped by the judicial arm of government.

These poor archiving systems permeate all works life; in government, in the private sector and in academia. There was an instance where a PhD holder from a reputable institution in the UK had to present all certificates he had acquired dating back to primary school after a 25-year career, with him approaching 50 to take up an appointment in Nigeria.

I dare say that white Africans are far ahead on the record keeping and documentation front; in another world, they would probably be able to produce enough documentary evidence to lay claim to anything even if acquired fraudulently by their forebears.

The fun in record keeping

I watch programmes on British television like "Who Do You Think You Are?" and I am always impressed with how researchers could trawl through archives going back centuries to piece together genealogies, ancestries and histories. We probably have just the adulterated and sometimes exaggerated or fabled oral histories to go by – we need to pay more heed to record keeping and documentation.

The idea that our sports ambassadors have to be herded like cattle through MRI scan turnstiles to determine the ages of the participants is degrading enough, if not disgraceful, but we brought this ignominious exercise upon ourselves.

We must address this now

The FIFA U-16 World Championship founded in 1985 and then renamed to FIFA U-17 World Cup has been running for 28 years. We should have learnt the lessons by now to ensure any new entrants to the competition have a good paper trail of birth certificates, medical histories, school reports and other supporting documentation not to have to suffer the indignities of an MRI scan.

This must be integral to our health policy, our education policy and other population census documentation and government planning policies. We need to get to a stage where the writing on any document emerging from our countries is worth the paper it is written on and accepted as authentic by any verification or certification organisation anywhere in the world.

Thought Picnic: More Tests ...

Of expectations

The day came with uncertainties and the answer to yesterday’s question is, I am sad. The first meeting was laden with expectations, at least that is what the nurse and the psychologist suggested, these people are clued in, they know what to do and they have solutions, the urgencies and immediacies will be assuaged with ease.

I soon became aware that they do not talk to each other and the view that things might have moved on from where they were left soon was discarded – I had to tell my story again, a third time to people who seemingly interact, but the object of interact is not the files, data or notes but the subject – I was the subject in this case.

Apparently, having lived on continental Europe for 12 years and now returned for the UK for one long year, left me rather bereft of some of the rights that UK residents would have been able to subscribe to – it was disheartening.

Of options

The picture painted even got gloomier as my countenance changed, I could feel the welling of my tear ducts but, I held it all back, I am the cast of my macabre drama, I cannot inflict any more hurt on myself than what I have suffered apart from a looming prospect of destitution and vagrancy – has it really come to this? The way it seems, it has.

There is no breeding, class, education, life, luck or fortune that is not represented in the homeless class and they all have stories just as good as mine, if not better of events in their lives that led to where they have found themselves.

The meeting ended with a list of numbers, addresses and ideas but without certainty, assurance or confirmation, I was forlorn. As it transpired, he had enough examples of people in my situation they could not help, I should have asked myself aloud – why am I in this meeting?

Of strangers

I gathered my thoughts in a few tweets as time passed, another 40 minutes before I meet my new consultant; at least that is what I expected.

She came to get me from the reception and as she introduced herself, confusion clouded my face, I had to interject – that is not the name of the person I was expecting to see and no one informed me in the almost 7 weeks since the appointment was made that the consultant had changed.

She was to do his rounds and by interference she had only leafed through my medical notes that appeared to contain the amalgamated detail from the Netherlands, Wales and the new interactions I have had since June.

Of preparedness

Again, by the first question, it was not so much my filling in the gaps but a new narration of the same tale that was already becoming a recital and performance at each gathering, I was not too pleased.

With time, I commandeered the notes myself, linking the data from the Netherlands to the information from Wales, whilst charting a historical progression of the tales of the bloods which on a chart would have looked like a jagged-saw graph, the current readings on a depression after what was the best indicator noted in almost 4 years.

Eventually, we warmed to each other, though not to the level I was accustomed to in the Netherlands, we discussed my drug regime, my options and additional tests.

Of innards

To be honest, I was not keen on being probed or prodded any further today, I was barely keeping up with myself on a mentally distressed level but in the process, we settled for 2 vials at the phlebotomist’s, prescriptions to last 4 months, which is unusual because beyond 3 months in the Netherlands, insurance requires you pay for the extra and then be reimbursed. I did not have €2,700 in my pocket in December when I was last in the Netherlands, so I left with 3 months of medication even though my consultant had prescribed 6 months with consideration of the fact that I was then resident in the UK.

I will also be visiting the imaging department, having secured an appointment for a month hence, I am to fast for 6 hours ingesting nothing but fluids prior to the largest organ in my body scanned – Gosh! I have pretty much really mucked my life up too seriously to unravel in one short afternoon.

In between all this, I also saw the pharmacist who ensured my prescription went ahead to the pharmacy that I did not have to wait as long as 30 minutes to pick them up.

Of life

At the end of all these meetings, I was not in the mood to socialise, I got on the train and made my way home, burdened with an existence that clouded the glimmer of hope I had earlier in the day and smarter for the fact that I refused to take on more than what I thought I should handle in one day as advice from other friends came in.

As I stepped out of the station, a man approached me, “Please can you help a homeless man with some change for a cup of tea?” He said. But for his skin tone, I might well have been looking in a mirror, though, it was a mirror of circumstances looming as I emptied the coins into the palm of his hand, I said to him, “I will be homeless from tomorrow.”

I made for the place I had called home for the last 5 weeks, tomorrow being my last day, found a short break from my turmoil with some sleep and woke up to write this before I start to pack my bags and think of what really will tomorrow bring – there is no point asking if I will be happy or sad, any comfort will do to find a place to lay my weary head.

Thought Picnic: My #ABSURape Tweets for the Record

For the record

Having read a number of blogs and discussions related to the #ABSURape issue on Twitter and on some blogs, I have decided to document [1] for the sake of posterity the Tweets I have sent out regarding this issue from the 18^th of September 2011 until the 24^th of September 2011.

When I first heard of the rape, I was utterly disgusted especially after I read about it on two blogs, I never had the inclination to view the said video or attempt to glean any information from it. I honestly felt the other persons who for altruistic reasons had viewed the videos will pay all diligence to ensuring that all information was handled with the utmost maturity and discretion.

A developing issue of official denials

The rape had happened a whole month before the video went viral and from all the information being shared on Twitter, it appeared people knew people who were quite aware of who the victim was, possibly where the event took place and were in no doubt that it took place at Abia State University.

Meanwhile, all the authorities had refused to tackle the case all denying that the event ever took place in the university or even in the state when it appeared the video first surfaced in the university and some of the students involved had volubly indicated they were students of the university.

There was every need to bring pressure to bear on the system and authorities to act especially when the state governor suggested this video was produced by his political detractors.

The controls are basic trust

In the process, people were bound to get more agitated just as things were bound to go wrong – where the authorities could have helped the circumstances by setting up a situation room to collate information leading to the apprehension of the alleged rapists, the social media sphere became that situation room where daring mixed with some irresponsibility and some caution depending on how you look at the matter.

As it transpired, late on the 21^st of September 2011, Tweets arrived on my timeline suggesting that certain names had be put to some of the alleged culprits and those names were published.

The first Tweet I published on arrival of that information was - 21 September Wow! 3 full names of the alleged #ABSURape culprits. Determine who they are and apprehend them for questioning. 67 forakin Akin Akintayo

It had caught fire

Then I responded (my response emboldened) to another Tweet 21 September RT @PearlEze: I checked the XXXXXXX XXX guy on facebook and we have 5 mutual friends! ~ Goldfish have no hiding place. 67 forakin Akin Akintayo

By which time, Twitter had caught fire, the whole timeline was agog with news of the said culprits and I next Tweeted 21 September Watch and marvel at the power of social media - #ABSURape! 67 forakin Akin Akintayo

Then, I made the first direct mention of the name after checking the source website to confirm if what was being said could be corroborated with 21 September Engage the network of Friends. Security Check Required | Facebook - If you are a friend of XXXXXXX XXX XXXXXX one of the alleged #ABSURape suspects 67 forakin Akin Akintayo

The second time I made mention of a name was when I was being harangued about the information to which I responded 21 September @royaltyuso If XXXXXXX XXX XXXXXX is coincidentally at ABSU & has a similar name to the original list of first names, that is unfortunate. 67 forakin Akin Akintayo

The pitfalls of implicitly delegated trust

Now, my belief at that time was that the persons who revealed these names had done all the necessary groundwork and essential thorough checking before publishing such information, however, down the chain, the level of trust reposed in those involved diminished as each of those who were at the forefront of this investigation began to extricate themselves.

Much as I would normally cross-check and verify information before I relay, this was one area where considering the evidence I was not going to vacillate between voyeurism and curiosity with a modicum of investigative analysis by watching the video – it was a responsibility I was ready to abdicate with the hope that those who did assume responsibility will use it fairly, judiciously and responsibly.

It does not excuse the fact that I was involved in mentioning one name, a situation I do deeply regret but to ignore the prevailing circumstances in the situation where there were no takers of the N200,000 reward for information and the authorities were closing ranks, the tabloid element that some have castigated and excoriated would have been the only effective way to embarrass the authorities into action.

The scornful had no sense of reality

The sanctimony with which some can postulate to appear sensible is almost rank indifference, for all the sense of appropriateness they seem to suggest, the fact is this ABSU rape case appeared to suggest that the incidences of these heinous crimes were widespread, underreported and no doubt done with impunity, else the said culprits will not have recorded the videos and then distributed them.

There is the fallacy of a supposedly cultured setting that these people subscribe to that is far off the reality and the fact that there has to come a time when our society will not sit idly by feigning cultured reserve, dignity and discretion but get involved positively, proactively and constructively.

As I went to say, there were going to be more suspects in any rape case than those indicted and more of those than they that get convicted – to think any investigation will hit the jackpot of the culprits at first attempt is literally impossible.

Just the way it is

21 September #ABSURape There will always be more suspects than arraigned & an allegation is NOT a conviction - please align your perspectives. 67 forakin Akin Akintayo

In the end, there was much to say which included 21 September If the #ABSURape case becomes a cause célèbre and towards the end a casualty of social media, that would be unfortunate. 67 forakin Akin Akintayo

With the following Tweets - 21 September #ABSURape in the light of all these events, if the authorities do not take hold of this case immediately, the injustices will be compounded. 67 forakin Akin Akintayo

21 September #ABSURape Did I not say watch and marvel at the power of social media? I forgot to end that with "to destroy people." 67 forakin Akin Akintayo

21 September #ABSURape What is done is, now we need to make the best of it and refocus on the need for justice for all concerned. 67 forakin Akin Akintayo

For the record

The most important issue at stake here is to ensure that one is referenced and quoted in context; it is all too easy to forklift a Tweet and base a whole premise on it without offering a good background as to how conversations evolved, worse still is when unrelated issues get conflated to give an completely unwholesome picture, the writers taking no responsibility for their sleight of hand and intended deceit.

This is for the record and hopefully to put things in proper context too.

References

[1] The ABSURape Tweets I posted

The ABSU Gang Rape Story on Storify

A Storify Record of related Tweets on the 21^st & 22^nd of September 2011