The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has presented a budget of N2, 084,053,765 (Two Billion, Eighty Four Million, Fifty-Three Thousand, Seven Hundred and Sixty Five Naira) for the participation of the Super Eagles at the 2014 World Cup.
NFF General Secretary Musa Amadu pleaded with the House of Representatives Committee on Sports to assist the organisation in approving the needed sum noting that with what the federal government has approved for release for the team’s participation, the NFF will be running into a budget deficit of about N829, 893,436 (Eight Hundred and Twenty Nine Million, Eight Hundred and Ninety Three Thousand, Four Hundred and Thirty Six naira).
Amadu said that the budget will cover the payment of the Super Eagles’ players and officials’ allowances, winning bonuses up to the quarter finals stage, accommodation and others.
According to the breakdown of the budget, the NFF has will pay $10,000 as match bonus players. The Eagles will also receive $12,500 and $15,000 if they qualify for the second round and the quarterfinals stage respectively.
Like the players, the federation will also pay the chief coach, Stephen Keshi, $20,000 winning bonus at the group stage, while his three assistants will receive $15,000 each. Also Keshi’s winning bonus will be raised to $22,500 and $25,000 if the Eagles qualify for the round of sixteen and quarterfinals stage respectively, while his three assistants winning bonus as well as other officials in the team will also be increased at the same 25%.
“For the World Cup, the budget we have is N2, 084,053,765 and from what we are envisaging, government may likely give us N1, 254,160,329. So there will be a shortfall in this World Cup budget to the tune of N829, 839,436 and the way we look at this amount the government is bringing N1.2b and that will only take the Super Eagles to the round of 16 matches in terms of the bonuses to be paid, air ticket, preparation and the rest of it
“I want to say that there is some money that is due to Nigeria from FIFA for the World Cup preparation, part of that money has come to us and we are utilizing it to prepare the super eagles for the world cup. We do envisage also that when the World Cup takes place, the minimum money that will be generated by the NFF for participation will be about $8m.
“But when you remove taxes, it comes to about $7m that the NFF will receive. The minimum guarantee for the participation in the World Cup is $8m for any country that goes through the group stage, but of course if you go to the round of 16 or the quarterfinals, it goes higher. In the last World Cup in 2010, we were guaranteed $8m but eventually we received about $6.5m after tax deductions from FIFA.
“So Mr. Chairman, this is the budget summary for 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, we are believing that with the support of the house and the federal government, we should be able to go to the World Cup and do Nigeria proud,” Amadu concluded.
