Sports ministry to investigate NFF/Eagles bonus saga

Pius Ayinor

The unhealthy relationship between the sports ministry and the Nigeria Football Federation could run for a long time to come. The ministry has decided to investigate the allegation allegedly made by some Super Eagles players that they were not fully paid their win bonus by the NFF for the 2018 World Cup qualifier against Algeria.

An aide to the sports minister confirmed to www.extrasportsnigeria.com on Thursday that they would crosscheck facts available to get to the end of the matter. The official sent a quote from the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Christian Ohaa, to underline their position.

“The record of the amount released to the NFF is in black and white, nobody can shortchange the players again and I can tell you that we will look into it, I just got the report now and we will look into it,” Ohaa said.

After the initial report by AfricanFootball.com the NFF denied the allegations on Wednesday, claiming they had an agreement with the players to be paid a flat sum of one million naira for home wins and half that amount for a draw. They said the agreement to pay in local currency became inevitable because of the scarcity of dollars in the Nigerian banking industry.

Those who have complained claim the win bonus is $5,000 per player, which would be N1,525,000 when converted at the official N305 to the dollar, instead of the N1m paid. The NFF officials on their part insist bonus for home win was pegged at a flat fee of a million naira, with only away wins attracting the $5,000.