The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has directed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to immediately stop all discriminatory practices against home-based Super Eagles
Dare stated this following the absence of the Super Eagles Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr when he watched the home-based Super Eagles’ training yesterday ahead of the friendly clash against Mexico.
The Minister said “Gernot Rohr was employed by Nigerians, therefore, he should not discriminate against those he wants to coach. Both home-based and foreign-based players exhibit great talents and they all must be respected and treated well.
“NFF must call him to order and ensure he abides by the contract he signed,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Dare has revealed that he had approached some state governors to intervene on behalf of former international, Samson Siasia who was banned by FIFA for alleged match fixing.
Siasia had accused the ministry of abandoning him when he received a life ban before it was reduced to five years recently.
“I reached out to a number of governors on his behalf. Perhaps the result didn’t meet his expectations. If more than five, six times I was talking to you, how were you abandoned?
“As a ministry, we have a budget, we don’t have a subhead for legal fees for someone who was operating in a private capacity. But inspite of that we worked with him. If he sees the cup half empty, that’s’ unfortunate as I see the cup as half full. We engaged and intervened on his behalf.
“I can’t take money out of the budget that is not approved. We never locked our door against him as he served the country meritoriously,” he noted.
