The president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Gusau has said the Super Falcons have been paid outstanding match bonuses.
The NFF president made this known Thursday when he appeared before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the dispute between the Super Falcons and the NFF over unpaid match bonuses and allowances.
Gusau informed the committee that the players were paid last week Friday while clarifying that the NFF wasn’t holding onto the players’ allowances but working through the necessary processes, which caused a slight delay.
He explained that the NFF’s operational costs are funded by FIFA and the regional sports body, CAF, rather than the federal government. He stated further that FIFA provided a preparation fund of $960,000 to all the 32 countries that qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
However, he emphasized that the $960,000 could not be used to pay outstanding allowances from the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup as the funds provided by FIFA for preparations are audited to ensure proper utilization.
However, Daily Trust reached out to the NFF General Secretary and Director of Communication, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi and Ademola Olajire via text messages to find out the exact payment that was made.
In separate responses, Sanusi simply replied ‘backlog’ while Olajire replied “that would be the monies they were owed before the World Cup”
To further confirm the exact payment made, a source very close to the Super Falcons told Daily Trust that the players were paid N500,000 only as the match bonus for the game against Cote D’Ivoire during the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2022 qualifying series.
The Super Falcons had completed a double over the Lady Elephants of Cote d’ Ivoire as they pipped the Ivorians by a lone goal at the Robert Champroux to seal an astonishing 12th WAFCON appearance.
Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the Ad-hoc Committee, Blessing Onu, commended the NFF for paying the players’ entitlements but requested for all the necessary documents regarding the funding of the Super Falcons in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The NFF is expected to appear again before the committee on Wednesday, August 30.
