For Ebi Egbe, necessity is undoubtedly the mother of invention following the establishment of his Monimichelle sports facility construction company largely to address the poor playing pitches across the country.
The Bayelsa-born Egbe once served as the State’s Commissioner of Sports during the term of Chief Timipre Sylva and it was under his watch that the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenogoa was turned to a hallowed pitch with the laying of the first ‘organic field’ in the country.
It was his desire to replicate such perfect playing surface that necessitated Egbe to chart a new course away from his hitherto foray into management of players.
“For a very long time, I was a FIFA-Licenced Agent and this was when only FIFA was giving out the license and long before they changed the nomenclature to ‘player intermediary,” Egbe widely known with his pseudonym , Monimichelle, told The Nation in an exclusive conversation.
“I’m a very passionate person and I try as much to bring a lot of this on my job and it was this drive that brought me into sports facility construction.
“It was while serving as Commissioner for Sports in Bayelsa State that I saw the need to go into this because our football pitches are in poor conditions and maintaining grass pitch that we had was capital intensive.
“Of course, without good pitches, we can’t have good players and our teams can’t play good football. So it’s my dream to change the face of Nigerian and indeed African football with construction of 21st Century sustainable pitches ; this will in-turn improve the standard of the game and this is my dream for African football,” explained Egbe.
The crystallization of Monimichelle’s dream has seen his firm undertaking some of the most challenging jobs across the country and the quality of his work recently won him the right to prosecute the FIFA Goal Project to be located in Ogborodo in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State.
Speaking on a wide range of issues, Egbe in this interview with MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN, shares all about being called Monimichelle and his dreams beyond construction of sports facilities. Excerpts…
Growing up in Ajegunle
I am a young man that lost his parents at the early stage; so I saw poverty at the early stage but I grew out of it. As a result, I value friendship, I value my business, I value my family and also value people I do business with, I don’t look down on anybody.
Growing up in Ajegunle means I have to be smart to climb to the top. But it wasn’t easy and I think it will be a bestseller if I write a book about my life’s experiences. Losing my mum at a very, very tender age and not having money to bury her is a significant experience I can’t forget. Not knowing where my mum was buried is still very painful but such is life, we have to move on. Where I grew up in Ajegunle was close to the Nigeria Navy Barrack field but I never I never played football per see rather I’d always been on the management side of football. We actually started the popular Ajegunle Mock Nations Cup which is one of the oldest grassroots football tournaments in Nigeria. I was part of all this before I travelled abroad. I’m a hard supporter of Nigeria during the Nations Cup and growing up; I was also strong supporter of Stationery Stores of Lagos. At some point, I was into management of footballers .I look for opportunities and when I noticed we lack good playing facilities in Nigeria, I had to jump to it .By the grace of God, we are who we are today as Monimichelle.
Being a player agent
It’s not easy managing Nigerian players because they are not honest. That’s why’ll give kudos to Mikel Obi for sticking to Ola John-Shittu all these years. Even when he has bigger clubs to go, he still kept Shittu as his agent.
Very few Nigerian players can do that; I actually stop managing players because of the frustrations from some players. Today and with diversification into construction, I don’t have any headache or sleepless nights. I still try to create a lot of opportunities for young players because we have talents in Bayelsa state and I have an academy in Bayelsa too, but I don’t do the player agency stuff again. I hope build a proper academy similar to what my Friend is doing, creating education with football but I still help some players if there are opportunities and help to negotiate the salaries and commissions too.
Transition from players’ agency to pitch management
For a very long time, I was a FIFA-Licenced Agent and I was so passionate about it; and it’s just about the same thing now because I’m always passionate about whatever I want to do. Now, it is the construction of sustainable facilities and lying of 21st century pitches that God has endowed me with and I’m passionate about giving Nigeria and the whole of Africa better playing surfaces that will aid the development of our football on the continent as a whole. Everything I do is passion-driven and I actually developed more than a passing interest on our patches. In Nigeria, we are used to natural pitches and if you really want to maintain a natural pitch, you must be ready to work on it at last twice a year aside daily maintenance which was a huge bill to the government with contractors demanding between N300 to N200 million in order to do such job at a time.
I therefore called His Excellency Chief Timipre Sylva to let us change to synthetic pitch and this was some 15years ago.
As a seasoned guy who had managed top player in this country and overseas, when I was given construction of Samson Siasia’s Stadium, I went for the organic field which was more expensive even when we got approval to install the synthetic pitch which was nothing but a rubber field.
Thereafter, anyone that plays in the Samson Siasia’s Stadium would ask question about who did the job. So my job has always been a reference point and the same thing is happening with the Enyimba stadium project. Any team that come to play Enyimba at their stadium would ask Chief Felix Anyansi who constructed the pitch, Of course, the organic field is quite pricy but it’s a pitch that’s close to natural grass.
Most challenging jobs
The FC Ifeanyi Ubah pitch was a very difficult one, because we had almost four-percent slope.
The Remo stars Academy pitch was a very difficult one too because we had a high difference of seven meters but today, we are able to achieve super pitch for Remo stars. If the playing surface has a stiff slope, it’s always very difficult but we love challenges. But these two major stadiums gave me challenges, because of the slopes. But our jobs have spread all over the country and today we have the organic pitches courtesy of Monimichelle at Muhammadu Dikko stadium Katsina, Enyimba stadium in Aba, Samson Siasia’s Stadium Bayelsa, Onikan stadium in Lagos, four pitches at Remo Stars , the new Anambra Stadium we are constructing and the Olubadan stadium in Ibadan.
I have even lost count of them but am happy because it’s obvious we are moving towards the right direction, to have pitches for our leagues and our grassroots football
There is one man I would always like to thank because he has done so much for football, Mr. Kunle Soname of Remo Stars; he has passion for the game and he his investing a lot for football.
In due time, the hard work would surely show and everybody would see what he has been doing in for development of Nigerian football; fans should continue to pray for Kunle Soname because he’s one of the best I have seen in my lifetime. I pray he would be able to recoup his investment in football in the long run.
Growing concern for soccer fields across Africa
The pitch is the most important part of any stadium and the future of football today is centred on pitch. Most pitches we see today in San Siro to Emirates to Camp Nou are all synthetic mixed with natural grass
Without good playing surface, you can’t produce good players’ right from the grassroots to the highest level. If the pitches are bad in the academy, it would reflect on the quality of players being produced.
Unfortunately, we can’t maintain grass pitches which had long been in use and this is greatly affecting the standard of the game not only in Nigeria but Africa as a whole. For instance, Cameroon would give us good pitches for the AFCON in 2022 but you if go back there two years after the competition, the pitch would have become so horrible partly due to poor maintenance. We must construct pitches that would last beyond tournaments and with all humility, Monimichelle Organic Field is the solution and the future of our playing surfaces.
Even if you have 90% of synthetic and 10% of natural gas, there would still be the problem of maintenance not to talk about natural grass that is so very expensive to maintain.
Once the pitch is bad, it kills the beauty of the stadium and that’s what has happened to the Abuja National Stadium (now Moshood Abiola Stadium).If the pitch had been good from the outset, the stadium would have been functioning till today. This was the same thing that killed the National Stadium in Lagos. I can say with all humility that what I’m offering is the best and this is not about marketing since what we are doing is an end-users thing; those who have played on pitches constructed by Monimichelle can attest to that fact. I’m happy to be changing playing surfaces in Nigeria and our name is spreading all over Africa because of the good job we did with the Enyimba Stadium in Aba. Most African teams that have played against Enyimba in Aba have been so impressed and I’m really proud that it’s not me that is saying the pitches being constructed by Monimichelle are the best. Presidents of Al-Ahly of Egypt and Raja Casablanca of Morocco as well as CAF Officials that have inspected Enyimba Stadium have had good things to say about the quality of the job we do. There is no need to be going far because we are ready to partner states, the Federal Government, NFF and CAF so that we construct sustainable pitches.
FIFA Goal Project in Ogborodo
We haven’t started work yet because you must plan very well to work in the riverine areas in Nigeria.
Right now, we are still at the planning stages and we intend to move in very soon to start construction. It’s gonna be very quick but first of all , we have to make sure the place is 100 percent okay to work; it is not easy to work anywhere there is oil because everybody is used to oil money. I would make sure that project will be one of the best in terms of beauty because it is going to be constructed close to the Atlantic Ocean. The time lag for the project is six months but I think we can do it in three months. We are supposed to complete it by Marchn2021 but I am sure we are going to do it before then.
Why I’m called Monimichelle
My nickname is ‘Money Love’ while my wife’s name is Michelle so Monimichelle is a combination of my nickname with the name of my wife. That simply was how I cooked up Monimichelle. Of course, this name has opened so many doors to me and I always want to be grateful to the former Governor of Bayelsa State His Excellence Chief Timipre Sylva who when he won the flag for the People Democratic Party (PDP) was in London with his entourage and I happened to be one of the few privileged people that hosted him. When he discovered I was very strong in sports then as a FIFA-Licensed Agent ( that was what we were called then before it was changed to intermediaries) and I was so strong in the afield then. He invited me to come and manage the sport ministry of Bayelsa State because all the guys around told him I have what it takes to revive sports in the state and that was how I eventually came back to Nigeria. I found out that Bayelsa was home .Although the first few months was not so smooth because I never campaigned with them during the electioneering politics and it looked as if I was stranded in Bayelsa State because I was played out. But I’m a very strong person mentally and my mind told me Bayelsa was where I was supposed to be and I’m always grateful to Chief Silva for the kind of confidence he has in me. So, the name Monimichelle has opened several doors like that over the years and not only in Nigeria but all over Africa.
My family and I
My family is the best thing that has ever happened to me. My wife is a great woman and a strong woman for that matter and we have been together for years now. We have two kids, a boy and a girl and my wife is Michelle, is an Italian and South African and my kids are from Bayelsa (general laughter). My wife has been to Nigeria once and my kids have not been here; I’m out here in Nigeria working but I travel back to see them in the UK now and then. My wife works with the NHS (National Health Service) and my kids ( Ebiere and Peremobowei) are still schooling out there but I think it’s high time they come back home. They are growing already and needs to come home because they are part of the future of Bayelsa State.
Wild passion
I love to party, I love to have a jolly good part. As a man, if I don’t know how to debug stress, then there would be problem. If you see me working, you won’t differentiate between me and labourers because I also push the wheel barrow with them. I don’t sit in my office with tie but I go on the field with my team to work. After doing all of these by working hard, I must be able to debug stress after work especially in a country like Nigeria. When I go out to party, I forget about my worries. I love to look good and also do what makes me happy, if am happy my families are happy too and looking good makes me happy. But loosing someone close to me can make me cry and sad.
Political Ambition
For now, I don’t have any political ambition. My focus is the growth and growth of Monimichelle Sports Facility Construction but you can never say, never. Especially, when you are from a state where you expect things to work better that what we have now, so if the opportunity arises, I like to be governor of Bayelsa State.
If I have opportunity, I would change that state, things are not going well but I pray the present governor Duoye Diri can make that change; we are still yearning for that one man that can turn things around for the state. Governor Diri has that privilege to be that man and I think he still has some three years to go. Frankly, I am not ambitious but if opportunity arises, I would turn things around in the state if given the opportunity.
Future of Nigerian sports vis-à-vis Monimichelle
Nigeria is a country that needs to start investing on facilities; we need to take sports back to school. But without facilities, we can’t get it right. As I said earlier, we at Monimichelle are ready to partner state government, federal government, private academies, banks and individuals so we are ready to construct sustainable facilities right from the grassroots because when we get the foundation wrong it’s always difficult to correct the top.
Every school in Nigeria should have modern sports facilities because this is where we can pick young talents and groom them .We have lot of talents in Nigeria and not only in football but in tennis, swimming and other sports too , we need to set our priorities right.
Of course, Monimichelle is here and we are here to eradicate bad pitches in Africa and we would be there for anyone that calls on us for our services to construct 21st century stadium facilities.
I’m happy both CAF and FIFA have recognized Monimichelle Enterprises to produce good pitches and facilities; we are going into the African market fully. Already, we have our product that is still under FIFA test and when this is certified, I bet you we can give 12 to 13 years warranty for the organic grass because our product is going to be top notched. Once, we pass the FIFA’s certification for our product, trust me, we’ll be ready to compete with the world.
