The Super Eagles before the commencement of one of their matches
In spite of the N13.9 billion that has accrued to the Nigerian Football Federation between 2016 till date, allegations of corruption and gross mismanagement from the apex body have continued to jeopardise Nigeria’s chances at both continental and global tournaments. BRANDPOWER examines the effect of the mismanagement of funds which has translated into non-payment of wages and allowances to the Nigerian football teams and their coaches in recent times.
The Nigerian senior female football team, the Super Falcons in December, 2016 had won the African Women Cup of Nations (AWCON) title in resplendent style to the delight of many Nigerians. But the glorious falcons instead of getting a superlative welcome worthy for champions from the Nigerian Football governing body in recognition for their hard-fought victory for the green flag at the women’s tournament, the ladies got an ignominious treatment as they suffered non-payment of their wages (training allowances and match bonuses).
To press home their demands, the Falcons then resorted to protest: they had a nine-day sit-in protest at a hotel in Abuja and even seized the AWCON trophy. As if that wasn’t enough, the ladies took the streets in peaceful protest and marched straight to the National Assembly Complex where some government officials met with them and promised to address the situation.
In its response soon after the Super Falcons’ protest, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) through its General Secretary then, Mohammed Sanusi, said though it planned to pay the players and their officials all their entitlements for winning the women’s cup of Nations, the money to do so as at that time was not available.
‘The Federation, he said, not happy about owing players and coaches. But it could only continue to seek their understanding and those of hoteliers and travel agents as well as its management and staff until the situation improved.
Sanusi continued: ‘There is no gainsaying in the fact that there is a severe economic challenge in the country now and all organisations, whether government or private, are feeling the pinch. But it is not government’s doing. We know we have financial commitments to the players and officials of Super Falcons, and we have not at any time stated otherwise. But the money is not readily available.’
The Super Falcons of Nigeria
It is now two and half years after the Super Falcons protested in Abuja over non-payment of their entitlements. But the ladies are still looking unto the Lord for the full payment of their wages and allowances. Is non-availability of funds at the disposal of the NFF still the cause of the delayed payment of the backlog of allowances? A look at the NFF recent budget and expenditure says ‘No’.
According to reports, the Nigerian football governing body have received a total of 13.9 billion naira from 2016 till present from the Federal Government, the world football governing body, FIFA, Globacom and Guinness Nigeria.
In 2016, the NFF got N5.9 billion. In the breakdown of the budget, a sum of N1.5 billion was to take care of the Super Eagles’ participation in the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) held in Rwanda between January 16 and February 7, 2016. In the budget, N672 million was said to have been spent for the U20 FIFA Women World Cup held at Papua New Guinea between November 13 and December 3, 2017 while 369 million naira was earmarked for Dream Team’s Rio 2016 Olympics campaign. Also in the budget, the Federation set aside 920 million naira for the Super Falcons’ preparation, qualifiers and participation in the 2016 African Women Championship in Cameroon which the ladies won.
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The remaining part of the budget was spent on the Flying Eagles’ preparation and participation in the U-20 Cup of Nations which took N620 million, the Super Sand Eagles campaign in the 2016 COPA Lagos Beach Soccer championship which gulp N651 million, the grassroots youth championship which cost N115 million and the payment of coaches’ salaries which took the last N286 million for the year 2016 budget.
In 2017, the Nigerian Football Federation got a sum of N1.6 billion. A breakdown of the budget shows that the sum of 905, 695,005 million was earmarked for overhead costs while the sum of N500 million was for tournament qualifiers and participation while personnel costs got the sum of N106,287,450 million. In the budget, the Federation was said to have spent 94, 447, 715 million on salaries and wages while the 2017 Federations Cup for male had N90 million. Salaries of national coaches took N10 million.
But despite this huge sum for the national football managers’ pay, one of them still laments the non-payment of his wages even till the time of filling this report. The manager, Godwin Izilien who led the Super Falcons to the 20o4 AWCON glory in South Africa, has since then been denied his match entitlements and salary arrears which is about $28,750 including those of his coaching crew.
Amodu Shuaibu, a former coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria (Left) and Godwin Izilien, a former coach of the Super Falcons (Right)
Izilien’s constant tears over his denied wages brings to the fore the travails of former coach of the Super Eagles, late Amodu Shuaibu who, according to his cousin, died of frustration as a result of his inability to maintain himself and family due to the non-payment of his entitlements by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) despite having a stated amount for the payment of coaches in the national budget.
But while some of their coaches are still being owed certain entitlements, each of the Nigerian football teams has had a fair share of the bad deal. The Super Falcons have been the worst hit as part of their wages and allowances since 2016 have not been paid. The ladies, in anger, staged a protest at their hotel in France on Sunday, June 23rd, 2019 after their 3-0 defeat to Germany which sealed their elimination from the 2019 FIFA women world cup the previous day. The ladies said they are being owed unpaid bonuses from two years ago and five days camp allowances at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Like the Super Falcons, the Nigeria’s male national team, the Super Eagles also has a history of pay disputes and nearly missed the 2013 FIFA Confederation Cup after refusing to board their flights over unpaid bonuses. Even the Super Eagles during the ongoing 2019 African Cup of Nations holding in Egypt refused to turn up for training and Pre-Match Press Conference on Tuesday, June 25th, 2019 ahead of their clash with Equatorial Guinea due to the non-payment of the bonuses they are being promised for winning the first match against AFCON debutants, Burundi.
All these disputes are testaments of the perceived corruption and mismanagement of funds that has been plaguing the Nigerian Football Governing house since time immemorial. Nigeria obviously is gifted with some of the best stars from the African continent, but the twin devil of poor management and opaque disbursement strategy which translate into lack of trust and non-commitment to the welfare of players from the part of the NFF will sooner or later snuff out the stars out of the Nigerian football firmament if not properly addressed. As a nation, we must stop embarrassing ourselves and making ourselves the laughing stock of the world while we must urgently put definite end to this disrespect and ill-treatment of Nigerian sportsmen and coaches before, during and after major sporting tournaments by all means.
Samson Oyedeyi
