IKPO IGBINOBA
Former Super Eagles star and national team coach, Austin Eguavoen is back in the classroom.
He is a student at the National Institute of Sports, NIS in Lagos where he’s doing a management course.
Eguavoen, a member of the first Nigerian national team to qualify for the World Cup in1994 will spend the next eighteen months in the classroom.
The player whose epochal career saw him manage clubs and national teams at home and abroad told PM Express that it was exciting to be back in the classroom.
“There’s no end to the journey of seeking knowledge”, he declared.
On his relationship with other students at the institute, the soft-spoken player said it was cordial.
“We all relate very well as colleagues and students and they accord me some respect”.
Though Eguavoen’s first love was athletics where he dreamt of ruling the tracks in his 100 metres sprints, he veered into football after the 1978 Challenge Cup epic victory of Bendel Insurance of Benin City over Rangers International of Enugu
He once told a reporter that the heroic welcome the victorious Insurance team received from the government and people of then Bendel State was what lured him into football.
Eguavoen’s football’s odyssey has been one of success after success as a player and manager and at club and national team levels.
A member of staff at the NIS who is not authorised to speak to the press said the institute should feel honoured having a student of Eguavoen’s stature.
According to him “It is not always that we get such high profile students in the school”
He recalled that the last time the NIS enjoyed such privilege was over fifteen years ago.
“Fifteen years ago or thereabout, the late Taiwo Ogunjobi came to the school after an illustrious playing career in the national team and serving as Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Association, NFA”.
The staff said the school authorities should leverage on the presence of Eguavoen to boost the profile of the NIS.
“The authorities of the NIS should make the presence of Eguavoen in the school a media event.
“We should celebrate it and announce it to the world that Eguavoen is our student. It will boost our profile and rating”.
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