Nigerian musician Seun Kuti recently discussed the income inequality between footballers and essential workers, shedding light on the societal value placed on different professions.
In a live video on Instagram, Seun Kuti expressed his concerns about how footballers make millions for playing a game, while essential workers such as nurses, teachers, and paramedics are paid much less.
He underscored the vital role that essential workers play in our communities, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, where they continue to put their lives at risk to provide critical services.
Seun Kuti questioned society’s tendency to prioritize entertainment over essential services and challenged the notion that footballers deserve such high levels of compensation.
Seun Kuti said:
“They say footballers want to go on strike. They said they want to strike, where are the rich pan-Africans? The football they’re playing is too much. Footballers are paid millions just to chase a ball around a field. For the amount of money they are paid, they should be playing every day. Personally, I know boys who aren’t paid a dime yet they play on the field every day.
“During COVID, I asked a very question: how dare we play footballers more than we play nurses? How dare humanity create a system and give our allegiance to footballers. How can footballers earn more money than nurses?.
“During the pandemic there was no football. Did anything happen to anybody when we didn’t watch football? It is not essential. If nurses in the world stop working now, as there is no COVID, do you think this world will continue? If all the doctors go on strike, do you think the world would continue? If all the teachers quit, how many of you can stay at home with your children? Can you teach them yourselves?.
“The people doing the most important jobs are paid less. Paramedics and street cleaners couldn’t stop working during COVID. that was when I realised that this world is mad! They had to work during COVID and many of them lost their lives because they were mixing with the crowd.
“But sports is entertainment so they earn millions yet they want to go on strike. I’m sure they know that what they’re earning is not worth what they’re earning. I refuse that they’d be paid that much, nobody can convince me that it’s important or with it”.
