Nigeria vs Benin Republic: Super Eagles' chance from the diaspora's lens

Guardian Nigeria

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00:00of course there is no better people to talk the nigerian story in the diaspora of course

00:04than nigerians and in light of these i've got a nigerian american in the studio today

00:10and who is you know trying to amplify the nigerian story in the hospital sport to the audience how

00:18they're most especially in the united states i'm joined in the studio right about now uh i've got

00:25jessica wachiko in nigerian america like i said and of course the founder of amplify fc a filmmaker

00:32and of course an entrepreneur good to have you in our studio thank you for having me awesome jessica

00:36so we are you as a founder of amplify fc what do you do and you know your firm what are you guys

00:43into major league yeah so amplify fc we are a media studio based in the states and um essentially what

00:50we're doing is amplifying different stories in soccer through filmmaking so we're doing that by

00:56highlighting diverse stories that have been underrepresented in the states okay but also

01:00in um africa as a whole because i see a gap in um when it comes to media coverage and telling

01:06african stories so um our goal is really is to amplify many of the untold stories throughout the

01:12world and within football wow awesome i must say that's quite amazing what flowed a passion for you

01:18you know to come up with amplifiers yeah so as a nigerian american woman i've always been um

01:25passionate about filmmaking and soccer so my background for the past some decade has been

01:32working as a film director okay and um producer for different media companies corporations and

01:38non-profits helping them um helping them um with media production wow so um being very passionate about

01:46soccer i realized over time why why do i combine these passions together because um i saw a gap okay

01:53i saw a gap in coverage in the states you know um nfl the nba is way more popular basketball yeah it's way

02:00more popular than soccer yeah so um i saw it as an opportunity to really um promote the sport in the

02:06states but um also even like i said in nigeria really i'm amplifying different stories there so oh great

02:13i'm gonna say that's quite an amazing passion to have okay so how would you rate the reception over

02:20there you know with the audiences uh of course in the united states how are people or even you know

02:25the western worlds how are they receiving you know your your mission how has been you know for you

02:31yeah people are very receptive just because um people have seen that gap like i mentioned years ago so

02:37really people want to be spoken to but also seen so even seeing yourself through a video platform it

02:43always feels good like um we worked with a grassroots program they help um kids and underprivileged in

02:50areas in philly we made a a couple of videos for them really highlighting their impact and their

02:55experience and like seeing the kids and the director watch it back they're just like wow like people have

03:01ignored us for years so really just telling those stories and also like for players too who um don't get

03:06that much coverage it's always such an impactful opportunity for them for them amazing amazing

03:12amazing okay you you know you mentioned your keen interest in soccer yes and as a nigerian american of

03:19course based in the united states you wake up you know the time zone is you know it's a lot to watch

03:26nigerian matches you know sometimes and all that but we are on the verge of probably missing out

03:32on another world cup and this time around it's supposedly happening of course in the united states

03:37and canada this will be a major blow if we miss out on this what would be your take so if nigeria

03:44misses out that because this will be back-to-back world cups we miss out and you know we are the giants

03:50of africa so um it would be a major disappointment because um with this world cup being in the states this

03:56would be one of the biggest world cups in history just in general but when you even consider how big

04:02the nigerian diaspora yeah are in america you know many people haven't seen nigeria play before yes

04:09so be a great privilege so even um for me i'm watching the team play for the first time next week

04:18but other than that i've never seen them play so um it would be a huge loss for many fans who support the

04:25team but haven't had the opportunity to watch them play live already they are anticipated yeah

04:31and that group you know group c we should be topping it it should have been easy i don't know sometimes

04:35okay could we talk about maybe one of the reasons why we are lacking behind in this you know we look at

04:40the player selection three coaches have actually you know been in the hands of a fair just in the rounds

04:46of qualifiers just to ensure yeah that we made it to 2026 uh fifa walk-up in united states

04:52but as it stands we are taught on the log behind bernie republic and south africa thanks to the

04:57point deduction yes thank god so now we still have a chance all those on against lesoto and uh bernie

05:05republic you'll be watching the bernie republic uh that's in uyo the lesoto meets away okay awesome

05:12all right just to move away from from the super ego story you you're a female and obviously the gender

05:18that did us proud in the year 2025 that brought joy to our faces maybe that's when they had it

05:25you what a man can do a woman can do better maybe that's what it meant yeah the super falcons winning

05:31mission hex uh i'm talking about halfcon and of course the tigress also winning their fifth uh you

05:37know uh afro basketball what are those moments for you how do you think those moments are you know yeah

05:44it's um it's definitely a powerful and proud moment just because you know you even know the

05:51struggle of the women's teams what they've been through but for them to still overcome and perform

05:57and even the the match behind with against morocco they were two down that's two down and came back

06:02up to win it's always just a proud moment to watch on the team just win and um we hope we hope the men

06:07following the example we hope oh that's that's a d all right hopefully the super eagles are hearing

06:17us and they will make us proud just like the women did uh you know just before we buy house of the

06:22studio now when you talk about you know some aspect of africa or let me say nigeria so one area we're

06:27lacking of course it's infrastructure investment and all that how do you think are people in the

06:32diaspora you know people like you can help to you know navigate these gaps how can they bridge the

06:37gap you know people coming back home to actually you know make one or two impact like amplifiers

06:42yeah i think the the first big step is really just coming back coming back even like me and you

06:49having this conversation really seeing what value you can add in the industry you're interested in

06:54so for me i see that through filmmaking media and sales so you know it's really just starting from

06:59that point coming back and really just providing that value you know wow awesome so we are actually

07:06advocating and admonishing our people i know more majorly people they are doing fine you know

07:11so it might be so difficult like what am i going to do i know yeah but of course home is home is

07:15beautiful home is home yeah it's no place like home okay lastly jessica before we leave the show

07:21um you are going to huyo of course so amplify fc what are you going to be doing you know have a record and

07:30people over there can you telling the story about yeah so i will still be enjoying the game but um i

07:36see this game as a big piece honestly in nigeria history because um if we win we're returning to

07:44the world cup after not went after not being there four years ago but also if we lose this would be two

07:52back-to-back world cubs yeah so there's a story in um both directions so i think the piece when i

08:00think i want to really the piece to focus on even the state of nigerian football and even how the fans

08:05are feeling because fandom has actually gone down yeah throughout the years more interest you know

08:10you know and that's lots of outbreaks and because we are the giants of africa that that makes no sense to

08:16me so i think it will be a good opportunity to directly talk to the fans and really um amplify their voices

08:21to see like um how are they feeling about the team how long have you been supporting them and even

08:26why do you think there's not many fans like super fans like you who are coming here and supporting the

08:32team how it was years ago so i'll say i want to say now you're obviously evil right yeah can you say

08:38henna warden evil so i don't speak but um you know okay do can you do and what do you say back i'm not

08:46evil okay you're teaching me now yeah now i'm teaching you you mean you're teaching me now

08:52awesome look of a life okay of course amazing time has been you know right there with jessica

08:57wachiku of course the uh founder of amplify fc based in the united states we are of course uh

09:02usually in the united states philadelphia philadelphia awesome awesome okay that will be the size of our

09:08packing today and you know we've spoken on what to do better people in the hospital how they can also

09:13help to navigate and break the gap you know in investment and of course infrastructure development

09:18until next time will come your way again i must say thank you for watching this episode

09:23or look how the ulumiwa is my name until then bye

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