Daniel Amokachi is at the forefront of a volunteering drive to feed people in his home Nigerian region during the coronavirus lockdown.
The former Everton striker is pooling resources with his high-ranking businessman brother to package and deliver food to communities desperately in need of aid.
Amokachi is spending every day at the vanguard of the relief effort, joining fellow volunteers to travel round the state of Abuja providing supplies to be distributed by the Nigerian Red Cross, one element of the country's National Emergency Management Agency [NEMA].
The 47-year-old is universally lionised in Nigeria for his glittering exploits with the national football team and two months ago was appointed the country’s Football Ambassador by The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari.
Amokachi, though, confesses football is a long way from his mind right now.
With the major Nigerian states braced for lockdown last month, Amokachi approached brother and vice-chairman of the giant Sinoki Group Alex Adingi with a proposal to combat a looming hunger crisis.
The Sinoki Group’s vast portfolio includes a prominent Chinese restaurant in Abuja.
“I spoke to the [Sinoki Group] board and said in this period we should use our services to put smiles on the faces of people whose lives are on the line,” Amokachi told evertonfc.com.
“About 80 per cent of people in Nigeria have to work to be paid to sustain their lives. Without work they do not eat in the evening.
“We spoke to our friends and [business] partners and have agreed to keep supplying packs of food through the lockdown.
“There is a Presidential Taskforce on Covid-19 under the NEMA. It includes agencies on the front line, like the Red Cross, police, road safety and civil defence.
“We have a pass to allow us out during lockdown to deliver food and we are working practically all day.
“The situation in the Third World is extremely tough.
“Our government has announced measures for food to be distributed and money paid into everybody’s accounts.
“It is a good move but we are waiting for it to be implemented and people need help now.
“What we are doing is just being human.”
Amokachi is talking to evertonfc.com from his brother’s office.
It is 2pm and the temperature outside is approaching 40 degrees.
He retreats inside at this point of the afternoon to begin the process of arranging and filling parcels – containing produce including pasta, rice, beans, oil, salt and pepper – to be distributed the following day before embarking on a second round of deliveries.
Amokachi is enshrined in Nigerian football folklore after scoring in the 1996 Olympic final when the African nation beat star-studded Argentina to win gold.
He was part of the Nigeria side which claimed the Africa Cup of Nations title two years earlier.
Between times, he achieved cult status with Everton, scoring twice in the Blues’ 1995 FA Cup semi-final victory over Tottenham Hotspur and appearing in the subsequent Wembley triumph against Manchester United.
But Amokachi insists his demigod standing at home would count for nothing if he didn’t employ it for altruistic purposes.
He attributes his ingrained urge to help others to the beliefs fixed in him by his father Pa.
“I was born and grew up in the ghetto, I know what hardship is,” said Amokachi, who scored 14 goals in 54 Everton appearances after joining from Belgian side Club Brugge following the 1994 World Cup in America.
“My neighbourhood in Kaduna is about 1km from where I was born and I still live in the heart of my community.
“I leaned from my father growing up.
“We have seven in the family but in our home we had more than 50 people.
“My father would open his house to everybody and put children in schools.
“It is being human to feel the pain others go through and it is grace from heaven to do what you do [have the power to help].
“It is something we enjoy doing and will keep doing.
“When I am out [delivering food parcels], people say, ‘I watched you since you were young but today is the first time I have physically seen you’.
“But my name is old and football is a long way from my thoughts.
“It is what you can put on the ground from your status that they appreciate.
“If you are a household name, always go out and lend a hand.
“People feel fulfilled and forget the pain they are going through and that is the beautiful thing about it.”
On Monday the lockdown in the Nigerian states of Abuja, Lagos and Ogun was extended a further two weeks until 27 April.
Amokachi, who launched his own eponymous charitable foundation in 2017, insists he will team up with Sinoki Group for as long as help is required.
It is a measure of the adulation he commands in Nigeria that Sinoki named its Supra Bull motorbike – the group’s interests range from motorcycles to pharmaceuticals – in honour of the Bull nickname Amokachi acquired during a career which was curtailed by injury at the tender age of 26 following three years in Turkey with Besiktas.
And he hopes publicity generated around his aid work will fuel similar initiatives across a country which boasts a population of 200 million.
“When I post on my Instagram page and people ask how they can help, I say, ‘I don’t need your money’,” said Amokachi.
“I am in Abuja, if they are in Lagos, do the same in Lagos.
“Do the same thing in other districts, then the help is spread round to all the places in need.
“We don’t want to be a foundation taking money from people.
“It is not about publicity, it is about being human.
“If everybody does something there will be less pain in the world.
“Everyone is suffering so we all have to find a way to lend a hand so we can see an end to this – then we can start trying to find normality in the world and in business.”
Everton and official charity Everton in the Community (EITC) launched their ‘Blue Family’, campaign last month to maintain contact with fans and provide support and assistance to the most vulnerable, socially isolated and ‘at risk’ members of society across Liverpool – and beyond – in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
>>>DONATE TO THE BLUE FAMILY CAMPAIGN AND FIND OUT MORE BY CLICKING HERE<<<
