Former Secretary of Rangers Int’l FC of Enugu, Chief Joe-Martins Uzodike has commended the Anambra State governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo for what he described as his massive welfare package for ex-players of the club.
Governor Soludo had while celebrating the first two years of his administration last week, announced a N100,000 monthly stipend for each of the 73 former Rangers Int’l FC players.
The Governor who announced the gesture when Chief Uzodike led the veteran soccer players to pay him a courtesy visit at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia, also promised free medical services to them at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, COOUTH, Amaku-Awka, amidst doling out N200,000 to each of the former players and a 50kg bag of rice.
Uzodike who was the secretary of the club between 1974 and 1984, reacted to the Governor’s largesse in an interview with newsmen in Awka on Thursday.
He stated that akthough the past administrations of Mr Peter Obi and Willie Obiano respectively also catered for the players, the current gesture by Soludo stands out.
The former scribe stated that Soludo’s package is outstanding because the stipend cuts across every ex-Rangers players regardless of their states of origin.
“I want to thank Gov. Chukwuma Soludo for first of all, accepting my request that ex-Rangers should come and see him and, secondly, for the unprecedented life-saving welfare package he announced.
“Soludo increased the monthly stipend of these legends from N15,000 to N100,000, he also announced free medical care for those of them from Anambra at the state-owned Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital.
“This is particularly interesting because Rangers Int’l was the identity of East Central after the civil war, these people brought joy to the people with the games they played, they also gave us identity.
“Soludo also gave these ex-Rangers Int’l players, about 75 of them, the sum of N200,000 and a 50kg bag of rice each for visiting. It has never been this good, I want to thank him for his kind gesture towards these great men,” he said further.
Uzodike, a former Commissioner for Information and Culture during the Peter Obi and Willie Obiano administrations respectively, however, called on other state governors, especially in the South East, to borrow a leaf from Soludo’s welfare package to the former players.
He noted that these were “great men who made us proud in their time, they led the East Central people back to every part of Nigeria and Africa after the war with football.
“They deserve the best they can get while alive, and I encourage other governors to borrow a leaf from Soludo,” Uzodike said.
