The Nigeria Football Federation says it is working at a pace to ensure the payment of outstanding bonuses and allowances of the coaches and players of the senior men national team, Super Eagles, as well as salaries owed the coaches of the team.
NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said in Abuja on Wedneday that the challenges and disruptions caused by the global coronavirus pandemic are still being felt by government institutions and businesses the world over, and there was no need to pretend that these are normal times.
“The NFF deserves no joy in owing players and coaches their entitlements. The same players and coaches have been well-taken-care of and provided the necessary facilities when things were normal, and as we work assiduously towards conquering the present challenges and seeing sunlight again, we expect the players, coaches and administrative staff to show the same level of understanding that they have been showing over the past 18 months.
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“Of course, we are pragmatists and we releaize that these things can be frustrating and some people will boil over and talk about them. It is normal. Last month, during the friendlies in Austria, we were able to pay some of the outstanding bonuses and allowances. We are working at a pace presently to clear what is remaining. As I speak, we are owing the team bonuses and allowances from only the last two matches, and payments for these two games have been sent to the Central Bank some weeks ago. They will receive the monies shortly. We are equally working to pay the coaches what they are being owed as salaries.”
Dr Sanusi’s comments were in direct reference to a statement credited to Super Eagles’ defender, Leon Balogun on Tuesday saying the NFF was owing the players bonuses and allowances. “We have never denied owing the team. Leon is a senior player that everyone respects for his quality output on the pitch and calmness and forbearance off it, but I do not know which reports he was referring to when he said the NFF was contradicting itself.
“He also talked about playing pitches. Sincerely speaking, the past few years has seen a remarkable improvement in stadia infrastructure across the country. The team had to move round the States because the turf of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja got bad. Now, the pitch is coming back to shape thanks to the efforts of the present Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Chief Sunday Dare, who got the respected Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s company to work on it.
“Presently, we have exciting venues in Uyo, Benin City, Asaba, Kaduna and Lagos. Without the team moving round the States, the governments of these States probably would not have devoted much effort into putting these facilities in world-standard shape. There are remarkable improvements on facilities in Ibadan, the National Stadium in Lagos and a new one in Lagos. All these will benefit the teeming youth population of Nigeria who are interested in sports.”
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23 Comments
Useless bunch……WCQ in danger if u don’t pay up. These are unnecessary distractions. This will definitely not be good news to players who might want switch to the super eagles.
The NFF believes the Super Eagles are a secondary school team. This is why Nigerian sports is mired in corruption, and can never achieve world standards
Mr Emmanuel, were the NFF officials been owed their salaries and other entitlements? Apart from SE that’s doing relatively well, mention one other national team that’s doing OK, (remember super falcon were not able to qualify for the Olympics, same with all under age teams), what is the state of our local leagues since this present NFF came on board?
How many club academy are functioning in the country?
My question can go on and on. This are the yardstick we use to measure the performance of a particular board, not about the luxurious hotels or camp grounds they secure, this are necessities not an achievement
@Emmanuel. When did the covid Pandemic start? March 2020. When are they owing from October 2019. The NFF are owing match bonuses from before the pandemic. The goal keeper coach is being owed 22 months salary. 22 months, thats every single salary from October 2019 to date. Can you work for almost 2 years with no, zero, nil salary?
Where does the NFF get money from? They get funding from the Central government, from FIFA including a covid extra payment from FIFA, from prize money, from match bonuses from CAF as well as from sponsors (AITEO etc).
Now, Kano Pillars won the AITEO cup if I am not mistaken in May or June 2019, they did not get paid their prize money for two years 2 whole years.
When the Super Eagles plays home games, their hotel, thir transport and feeding is sponsored by the state governments and not from the NFF purse. Lagos state even extended it to get the player to and from Republic of Benin. The Edo state govt sponsored the match in Benin. The Delta state government sponsored when they played in Asaba.
Enough of defense of mediocrity, enough of supporting corruption. The money is being cornered. The NFF president is a politician, he has used the platform he has for his personal gain. He has ascended to a committee in the FIFA council and also bought/built a mansion in Ilashe. Ilashe happens to be in the most expensive real estate in the entire Nigeria.
Lets call a spade a spade, under him our U17 have floundered, our U20 are none existent, our U23 did not qualify for the Olympics, our Falconets in abeyance and the Super Falcons struggling.
Let me say a tiny bit about the Super Falcons. They are with their 3rd manager in 2 years. Coach Dennerby jumped ship because of unpaid salary and contractual issues. Coach Chris Danjuma prosecuted the Olympic qualifier against Ivory Coast without even knowing what the objective was. They were playing for extra time when they had been eliminated by away goals. And now Randy Waldrum is again rebuilding.
Desire Oparanozie the captain was ostracized for two years, 2 years for daring to ask for match bonuses owed to them, 2 years.
Amaju Melvin Pinnick the best ever? My friend that is a lie, a blatant lie. I am also from Delta state and make bold to say Amaju Pinnick has taken our football back several decades and it will take years to put the foundations back in.
Make we hear word abeg
Did he actually say it? The interview in full here.
That comment from you is actually gaslighting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHubtPoluzU&t=210s
After now, they will find a way to ban Leon from the squad for speaking out.
Yeye people! Pay what you owe and stop speaking grammar. Pragmatists my foot!
If administrators want to travel to sporting events with athletes, they should pay for themselves. Unless the administrator is going to perform a necesary function. If it is just a junket, the adminstrator should kindly foot their bills from their pockets.
Players bonuses and coach salaries should not be used to fund estacode. Taxpayer funds should not be used for unnecessary and disallowed expenses.
Going forward, salaries and bonuses should be current! Enough of the embarassment!
The NFF should simply transfer the money into the players’ bank accounts and shut up. No need for tedious excuses in the media. It’s an unprofessional insult.
Amaju Pinnick is the most selfish NFF leader to ever hold sway in Nigeria football… Very shameless administrator!
with all his yeye promises that thye will never owe players there salaries. all this are just excuses, so they can get sympathy from fans
What a country, still owning players and coaches in 2021 lol, I wish the UN or the world superpowers can do us a favor by auctioning this waste of space off. For real all the players playing for this failed state should be commended including the coaches
Later some fans will start blaming the coach and players for not performing. How would they perform when they are not well motivated? Later they will equally say one foreign born player decline to play for Nigeria, how could a reasonable person accept to play with all these conditions? The worst of it is that the idiot minister know about all these and yet come out openly to castigate the coach because he is not local content hmmmmm.
While I commend Dr Sanusi for the matured way he has responded, I will plead that Balogun must not, and I repeat must not be victimised for speaking out. Its about time we stopped the attitude of victimizing anyone, obviously speaking out of a frustrating situation. While its ok to understand in a way with NFF concerning the difficult aftermath of covid pandemic, the NFF must also understand the difficulties/frustration of players/coaches and humbly work things out amicably with parties involved. This whole scenario, must never be allowed to degenerate into hate game otherwise we may just be setting the ball rolling towards missing out world cup qualification as well a disastrous outing at next years AFCON. Again from Baloguns comment, you can understand from between his lines, that the emphasis isnt really money owed though that has to settled. He displeasure is the tendency to cover up things even when its obvious to everyone. NFF must understand that this 2021, where anyone can get any information they need from internet. So they will be better off saying things the way they are; no need for media cover-up, which smack off a sense of deceit leading to lack of trust. Also Sanusi/NFF must understand, that every national teams around the world has permanent home ground and our SE constant movement from one city to city has been frustrating to not only the players but also the coaching crew and majority of fans. So BALOGUN echoing the feelings of the players, coaches and majority of fans, should be commended instead of frowned at. It shows he is truly concerned and takes nigeria/nigerians at heart.
Benin and delta State he called a world class pitch? Please work on the Surulere stadium and let it be our Wembley jareee, am ashame calling those Benin city and delta state world class, nonsense.
A WHOLE NATION OF NIGERIA !! IS A SHAME TO THE PEOPLE IN CONTROL LEADERS GOVERNORS SENETORS ETC even buahari THE PRESIDENT so stupid coming to uk or europe every time ,FOR SUMIT OR MEDICAL HE DOES NOT KNOW WHITE PEOPLE ARE LAUGHING AT HIS BACK THINK THAT WHY SO DIFFICUIT WITT THIS MAN WITH NO COMMON SENSE. A PRESIDENT OF EMPTY WITH NO SHAME.
Just look at this video of Balogun complaining about the NFF’s incompetence and corruption. What a crying shame! Many times forumites here talk about the issues facing the players – poor pitches, poor player welfare, unpaid match bonuses, etc. Balogun mentioned all these things in this video. How embarrasing and unfortunate that our players have to be demanding for their entitlements via media interviews. Playing for Nigeria is hard enough, with all the expectations and pressure. Should players also be dealing with these ridiculous off-pitch problems?
If Balogun is banned from the upcoming world cup qualifiers, we all know exactly what is going on!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YaYZ1cYjYg
@pompei; words really fail me here you know. I really am ashamed. The very reason i tell fellow forumites here not to get overly emotional to start hating on these foreign born Nigerians when they choose not to play for Nigeria. Does such news and events not vindicate them. This is really disheartening to be honest. But sincerely, why is it so difficult for Nigeria and Nigerians to do things right, are these stuffs rocket science. Lemme no hear no one hide under the covid-19 pandemic. Other countries are still getting things done despite the pandemic (African countries inclusive), so why the hell is it always Nigeria…
My brother, it is indeed shameful. The disgrace and embarrassment is too much. I felt so bad watching that interview.
Was the interview about mockery or some serious issues that need urgent fix? The interviewer laughter in the background gives him away as one not really wishing nigeria well. Most probably one of those immigrant leaving in foreign land, now expecting every nigerian back home to worship them because they have managed to find themselves abroad. These are the ones that will come on here to run players down, that choose to switch to nigeria down while same time, worship those nigerian born foreign legions turning up for England. Very sad NFF failed for some reasons to meet their obligations but its so disgusting to hear an interviewer making a laugh out of the situation, when even Balogun is talking with a sense of pain/concern.
I see that you also noticed it, Glory. That guy was having the time of his life laughing at Nigeria. I even thought he was white at a point.
See the disgrace our administrators are heaping on the country. It is well!
I will have to agree with @Emmanuel on this one. Pinnick to be honest might be considered a disaster mostly by fans of the SuperEagles, but in reality the guy has done really well for Nigeria football during a very difficult stratosphere. First it was Giwa, Dalong and the Nigerian civil system which up till date are still fighting him over his NFF presidency.
Obviously, anyone in Nigeria that wants to obtain an higher official position must dance to the government tone of which I don’t need a soothsayer to tell me that, because I’ve experienced it myself. However, he pulled a political masterpiece by inviting the FIFA president Gianni Infantino to Nigeria for the first time ever by an NFF/NFA president.
He made sure that the funds allocated to the FA by FIFA after the WorldCup in 2014 and other finances from the government through the Vice President Osinbajo who is a big fan of the SuperEagles was used properly to make sure the SuperEagles qualify for the WorldCup in Russia 2018 after missing back to back AFCONS.
Of course in Nigeria the philosophy of man must wack occurs throughout the SuperEagles progress to Russia up until we crashed out to Argentina. However, for the first time in our WorldCup history there was no controversy of players and coaches not getting their entitlements.
Unfortunately the ugly situation resurfaced in 2019 when the SuperFalcons, playing at the FIFA women’s WorldCup and the SuperEagles playing at the AFCON almost at the same period. SuperEagles players got their bonuses, but the SuperFalcons did not after making it out of the group stage of the WorldCup for the first time since 1999. It caused a revolt from the magnificent captain Desire Oparanoze to speak up and since then SuperEagles and it’s coaching staff have been affected and the global pandemic added insult to injury during that time span.
That’s why the Swedish coach doesn’t want to continue with Nigeria and Oparanoze stripped of the captains armband and subsequently not called up until the fans intervened. And the NFF eventually made sure the Falcons are well taking care of by organizing various international friendlies and camping as well as the upcoming Aisha Bihari tournament. Therefore, sometimes it can go both ways.
When the big mouth Sports minister came in his first contribution to our football was to make sure the NFF get rid of the SuperFalcons Swedish coach Thomas Doherty. In all honesty Dare has good vision for Nigeria’s sports, but I think he should just leave the SuperEagles and the SuperFalcons alone to the NFF and just focus on other sports. He couldn’t control the basketball team because an American is the coach. He should focus on our infrastructures for now then the rest will automatically follow.
Now the NFF have realized that’s it’s non negotiable for the SuperEagles to qualify for Qatar 2022 therefore, they have to sort out every means to support the SuperEagles particularly the AFCON coming up in less than 5 months in Cameroon. As a fanatic SuperEagles fan and a stake holder I believe we have the team and the pedigree to win the AFCON in Cameroon and hopefully qualify for the WorldCup and make some noise with these growing team. The NFF with Pinnick now in the FIFA council should do the needful. #FLY LIKE AN EAGLE INTO THE FUTURE#
What garbage is this mechanic talking about, what stupid accolades is pinnick getting. Abi who was NFF chairman during RIO olympics, abi who paid for the chartered flight to RIO, oga seems you had a hectic day at your workshop today, abi no customers came to patronize you, before you start feeding us lies again. Less i forget why is alloy agu being owed close to 2 years salary, abi is pinnick blind to know about that. Abi when Rorh voiced out that he was being owed 3 months salary, and they began to scramble with excuses. Oga abeg go sleep
Ode…okponu oshi…in this age and time you still don’t know that the Olympics team is the responsibility of the sports ministry and not NFF…LMAO….mumu go and check the crest on the jerseys of all Olympic teams currently, you I’ll see it’s not the crest of respective FAs, before coming here to bark like a dog bitten by another dog…Ode oshi. Only to use tongue to be licking @jimmylie’s poop up and down he Sabi….LMAOoooo
Pig face, am not surprised u the first to comment, if thats the case, what steps did the NFF take to secure there trip to RIO. How were other athletes sent to rio and the soccer team was still lagging. give your self some brain if you have noting tangible to add. Lat time i checked the FA crest is on the jerseys ot the soccer team not the sport ministry, Oponu oshi