Much ado about Eagles $10,000 bonus

In addition, there is no doubting the fact that this is a make or mar match for the Eagles. However, going by a recent development that has to do with the payment of the team’s winning bonus, the morale in the Eagles camp may not be at its peak before the battle of ‘Canaan city’Not […]

In addition, there is no doubting the fact that this is a make or mar match for the Eagles. However, going by a recent development that has to do with the payment of the team’s winning bonus, the morale in the Eagles camp may not be at its peak before the battle of ‘Canaan city’
Not a few people are aware of the fact that the players and officials of the team poised for a final showdown with the authorities over the ongoing plan to cut down their winning bonus from a whopping $10,000 to $5,000.
Until the present NFF under Alhaji Aminu Maigari started complaining of cash crunch, the Eagles were earning $10,000. The persistent cry by the NFF that it cannot continue with the jumbo pay to the players is responsible for the present bonus palaver.
It is too soon to forget the show of shame staged by the Eagles in Namibia where the team refused to board their flight to South Africa where they were to take a connecting flight to Brazil for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. That protest was as a result of the failure of the Nigeria Football Federation to pay them the $10,000 winning bonus that they are used to collecting.
The Eagles eventually made it to Brazil after Presidential intervention and arrangement that they would be paid the full winning bonus. However, their performance in Brazil was nothing to write home about and most Nigerians attributed their shabby performance to the bonus row.
Consequently, after the Confederations Cup in Brazil, the minister of sports, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi set up a committee to investigate the bonus uproar in Namibia and a member of the Presidential Task Force on Eagles, Mr. Segun Adeniyi was appointed to head the probe committee.
Recently, the committee submitted its findings to the minister of sports in Abuja. Although its recommendations were not made public, during the presentation of its report, the committee chairman sent tongues wagging when he opened up on some of its findings.
He categorically accused Eagles coach Stephen Keshi and other officials of the team of complicity in the whole saga. According to the committee, Keshi and his colleagues looked the other way while the players held the country to ransom in a foreign land. The players were also chastised for being unpatriotic considering that they were showered with cash and national awards by the government when they won the AFCON in South Africa. The NFF also got the stick for its inability to take the players along in its decision to slash their bonus.
Furthermore, the committee frowned at most of the big players in the team who refused to cooperate with it. The committee chairman said apart from the Captain, Joseph Yobo who was not with the team in Namibia, players like John Mikel Obi and the team’s vice captain, Vincent Enyeama refused to even pick calls from the committee.
Although the recommendations of the committee are yet to be made public, Shot! has gathered that the committee has recommended a fixed winning bonus of $5,000 for the team. It is yet to be seen what would be the reaction of the players when they are officially communicated on the new bonus.
However, a new twist in the bonus saga emerged this week Monday when the former NFF president, Alhaji Sani Lulu Abdullahi addressed a press conference in Abuja where he categorically laid the blame for the bonus brouhaha at the door steps of the Governor Rotimi Amaechi led Presidential Task Force on Eagles.
Lulu’s outburst is not surprising because he has been indicated by most Nigerians for being responsible for the present hullabaloo. It is alleged that he was the one who jerked up the winning bonus from $5,000 which was already too much in the eyes and ears of impoverished Nigerians to a whopping $10,000.
In his reaction to such accusations Lulu squarely blamed the PTF for increasing the players winning bonuses to $10,000 without consulting the NFF or even thinking about the long term effect. Invariably, he was saying Amaechi’s task force which he said did not make any financial contribution to the Eagles participation in the 2010 AFCON in Angola and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa should be blamed for the present rumpus.
He said “It is a known fact that the Chairman of PTF (Governor Rotimi Amaechi) immediately after inauguration announced the increase from $5,000 to $10,000 winning bonus to players, without considering the long term effect.
“In fact Governor Rotimi Ameachi had promised as the PTF chairman that funds will be made available before we get to financially critical quarter final stage of the Nation Cup. Unfortunately PTF was fully represented at the Tournament without financial support from the PTF, but the focussed NFF, had to sustain the payments of the increase bonuses up to winning the Bronze Medals”.
Insisting that it was not the decision of his administration to increase the Eagles winning bonus to $10,000, the former NFF president also called for a probe of the post tournament activities of the PTF saying it is entirely responsible for the present mess.
However, an aide to a key member of the Presidential Task Force who spoke to Shot on condition of anonymity said Lulu is not being sincere in his condemnation of the task force.
He said the PTF still has records of all its financial transactions with the Nigeria Football Federation just as he wondered why it is now that the issue of $10,000 bonus which was settled long ago is turning into a debate.
“ I don’t know why Lulu is saying all these when he knows the truth about what transpired between the PTF and the NFF as far as payment of winning bonus to Super Eagles is concerned. Even after Lulu’s tenure, NFF continued to pay the $10,000 so I don’t know what is responsible for the sudden change.
“The records are there. I am not in a position to make them public but I believe if this continues, PTF will be left with no option than to come out with verifiable evidence that NFF indeed enjoyed financial support from it”, he stated.
Reacting to the bonus saga, Dr. John Ogbadu, a former member of the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup Medical Committee said the PTF which was constituted to assist the NFF did not render any assistance to the football federation.
Speaking in the same vein with Lulu, he said the PTF should publish all its financial assistance to the NFF for the whole world to see and acknowledge its contributions to Nigerian football especially the Super Eagles.
“I want to say here categorically that the PTF did nothing to assist the NFF under Lulu. All that Governor Rotimi Amaechi and members of his committee concerned themselves with was how to remove the former president from office.
“The task force increased the bonus without the consent of the NFF and as if to rub salt into a festering wound, abandoned the NFF with the enormous burden. How can you sweep a man’s house without first informing him?
“I think the right thing to do is for the PTF to come out with its records of financial assistance to the NFF. There is no iota of doubt that the PTF is completely responsible for this present problem.
Meanwhile, the president of Association of Professional Footballers of Nigeria, APFON, former international, Dahiru Sadi said his association is always on the side of the players. He therefore called on the concerned authorities to settle the bonus problem once and for all.
He however said the NFF should have sat down the players and told them that it was the PTF that increased the amount to $10,000 with a pledge to pay the balance but since the money is not there, it would have to revert to the former amount of $5,000.
“My association is always on the side of the players. The whole thing has to do with communication. The players were not properly briefed. I know it was the PTF that increased the players winning bonus to $10,000 so now that NFF does not have that kind of money, they should have explained things to the players.
“You see most of these players are patriotic. They don’t come to play because of the bonus. Therefore, I am confident that the issue of bonus will not distract them against Malawi. Even if it is $5,000 they are going to be paid, they will still play and win.
As the blame game continues, the clock is also ticking towards September 7. That is the D-day in Calabar where the Eagles must get a good result against the Flames of Malawi to stand any chance of being among the countries that will slug it out for the five World Cup slots FIFA has allocated to the continent of Africa.