Footballer Wilfred Ndidi shares touching story of how he hawked groundnut and pepper in Lagos

Defensive midfielder of Nigeria’s Super Eagles football team, Wilfred Ndidi has recounted how he used to hawk some food stuffs on the streets of Lagos to help his mum while growing up.

He got the nickname ‘groundnut boy’ because he hawked groundnut and pepper.

The Super Eagles footballer is currently playing for a Premier League club, Leicester City in the UK.

The 24 year old while speaking with a  football journalist, Oluwashina Okeleji of The Frame online publication said:

“I did different things. Sometimes I hawked pepper, I sold water [sachets], tomatoes and fruits for my mother.”

“But I became famous for selling [groundnut] peanuts. They call me the groundnut boy. I did all these things to support my mother.”

“As a side hustle, to get my own personal money I was wiping the windscreens for cars held (up) in traffic. If I’m lucky sometimes I make about N2000 (almost R80) in a day but the highest I made was N3000 (around R118).”

Ndidi started his career with Nath Boys Academy in Lagos State before moving to Belgium to play for Genk.