Joel Ajayi
In January in the build-up to the 2023 AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire, President Bola Tinubu graciously approved the sum of 12-Billion Naira to clear unpaid bonuses and allowances of the Super Eagles as well as various other national teams.
The Sports Ministry headed by tested politician, Sen. John Enoh transferred the first tranche of this amount between February and March to the account of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF.
Payments to the various national teams were withheld because of a foreign exchange variation.
On Thursday, June 27, 2024, the second tranche of payment put at over five Billion Naira to make up for the short fall was made to the NFF.
This weekend, the Sports Minister disclosed in a radio interview that 17 Billion Naira is now cooling in the NFF account in this respect.
The purpose is to clear outstanding allowances and bonuses of the Super Eagles dating as far back as 2021.
The Flying Eagles are also owed their entitlements from 2022 WAFU qualifiers for the U-20 AFCON, the U-20 AFCON in Egypt as well as the U-20 World Cup in Argentina last year.
The Golden Eaglets are yet to be paid what is due to them from the WAFU qualifying tournament for the U-17 AFCON in Ghana in 2022 as well as last year’s U-17 AFCON in Algeria.
The Falconets are also awaiting payment of their bonuses and allowances from the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.
It is now left for the Government to ensure that these monies are paid to their deserved beneficiaries without further delays
