Super Eagles chief coach, Stephen Keshi and all the national teams’ coaches being owed salaries and allowances by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) would soon have cause to smile.
Keshi and some other national team coaches are being owed several months’ salaries and allowances running into millions of naira.
According to the Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, the National Sports Commission (NSC) has appealed to the Presidency for special intervention fund to settle the outstanding salaries.
The Minister however, said the issue of salaries was not about Stephen Keshi alone, saying that it affects all the coaches at the national level.
He said, “I don’t think it is about Keshi, it is about salaries of coaches in the national teams. It is not just the Super Eagles or even the lower teams.
“When the issue was brought to my attention I asked the Football Federation to explain because don’t forget that the Federation employed these coaches and not the National Sports Commission.
“They explained why they have been having difficulties paying and their explanations sound reasonable even though I felt they could have handled the situation differently.
“But then we have made representations to the appropriate authorities to give special intervention to enable the Federation cross this difficult financial path they have found themselves.
“And if I may tell you, one of the major reasons the federation has found it difficult to meet some of its obligations is that success in sports comes with enormous price.
“But like in the past when the national teams were not winning now we have won almost every single game. For every single game they win you have to pay match bonuses and match bonuses cannot wait, it should be paid immediately.
“So, when you are drawing from the same pool of fund to pay the match bonuses and the commitment that keeps piling up, then it becomes very difficult for you to meet some of these statutory obligations.
“We believe all these things should have been done differently but we are working towards addressing that and very soon it will be done with. Even this morning, it is part of what I’m trying to sort out,” Abdullahi told State House correspondents after the weekly Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
On what the Commission intend to do to help the family of Friday Njengo who lost his life recently while on national duty, the Minister said “On the issue of the player, Friday Njengo that unfortunately died after the accident is really tragic to us because this is a young man with such a bright prospect.
“So, we have sent representation to the family and of course all players on national teams are under insurance cover. So we believe that the payment of the insurance will be done to the family but in addition to that, the Federation after the burial will think about what it can do for the family”.
