When I saw the headlines that President Tinubu rewarded each member of the D’Tigress team with $100,000, my first reaction was a quiet sigh. I paused and tried to understand the motive. These women have made the country proud on an international stage. Their victory is well-deserved and worth celebrating. But as a Nigerian living in today’s harsh reality, I couldn’t shake off one question: at what moral cost?

We are a country where hospitals are begging for equipment, where teachers haven’t been paid for months, where doctors are leaving in droves because of poor working conditions. And in that same country, we gave each basketball player a hundred thousand US dollars—more than what most Nigerians will earn in ten years.

That’s where the problem lies.

This isn’t about denying athletes their recognition. It’s about balance. About priorities. About asking if we are truly rewarding the people who sacrifice the most for this country.

There are Nigerians doing thankless work every day. Work that holds the fabric of society together. Work that doesn’t get televised, but saves lives, shapes minds, and secures our future.

Let me name just five groups of people I believe deserve national recognition, and actual rewards, if we are serious about fairness:

1. Public School Teachers
These are men and women who teach in broken classrooms, with no textbooks, overcrowded spaces, and still manage to inspire children to dream. Their reward can’t be just “God bless you.”

2. Doctors and Nurses
Especially those in government hospitals. They work night shifts with outdated equipment, manage emergencies without electricity, and still show up every day. If we can find $100,000 for athletes, we should find hazard pay for them.

3. Nigerian Soldiers Fighting in the Northeast
They live in trenches, facing terrorists, often without proper gear or consistent support. Many come back maimed. Some never come back. Yet their families get silence, not compensation.

4. Police Officers on Patrol
Yes, the system is broken. Yes, some abuse the uniform. But there are honest officers who face armed robbers with rusty rifles and still stay at their post. Their lives matter too.

5. Sanitation Workers
These are people who clean our streets at 4 a.m., pick up trash no one wants to touch, and are looked down on by the same people who depend on them for hygiene and public health.

So while I celebrate The Super Falcons for their talent, discipline, and pride, I can’t ignore the message this kind of reward sends. That unless you win a trophy, you’re not worth acknowledging. That only viral moments matter, not the daily grind of national survival.

In a country like Nigeria, where poverty is widespread, where many civil servants retire into debt, and where integrity is rare, throwing around $100,000 cheques to a few stars, while thousands live and die unnoticed, is a moral imbalance we can no longer afford to ignore.

I believe in rewards. But I believe more in fairness.

Let us clap for our athletes, yes. But let us also pay our teachers, equip our hospitals, insure our police officers, and protect our nurses. Because those are the people who make nations last, not just win games.