Former Super Eagles captain, Kanu Nwankwo, is set to build five hospitals across Africa to create awareness for heart-related diseases.
Kanu Nwankwo who captained the Dream Team 1 to an Olympic gold medal finish in 1996, was speaking following the death of Ivorien international, Cheikh Tiote, early July.
According to the former Arsenal man who also recalled the case of Cameroon’s Marc-Vivien Foe, who slumped and died during a 2003 Confederations Cup game against Colombia, everyone has been silent about the rising cases of heart-related diseases.
The two-time African Footballer of the Year and the head of the Kanu Heart Foundation, called for more collaborative measures to curb the menace.
“I’m talking to friends so we can do something to create awareness to try to help children in Africa. Tiote’s death was not good news. It’s not the first time it is happening,” Kanu told BBCSport.
“We lost Marc-Vivien Foe. He died and nothing was done. Tiote is gone and nothing is being done. One man can not do everything. What happened to Tiote is a lesson to us all. We can’t let it go on like this.”
Speaking further, the 40-year-old said that there is need for more awareness about the heath challenge and revealed that he intends partnering with some of his friends to open up hospitals in the continent.
“We should talk more about it, information needs to get out there because the problem is huge,” Kanu noted. Our dream is to build a hospital in Nigeria and four other countries in Africa.
“The funds have been the issue but if we can make it happen it’s going to help a lot because right now we are taking the kids to India and it cost a lot.”
Cheick Tiote slumped and died while training with his Chinese Second Division side, Beijing Enterprise, July 5 and has been buried about two weeks ago in his home country, Ivory Coast.
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