The immediate past leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has responded to National Sports Commission (NSC) Chairman Shehu Dikko’s financial comparisons, stressing that context is needed when looking at government funding.
Dikko recently stated on Arise TV that the Federal Government allocated roughly N15bn to the NFF during Amaju Pinnick’s eight-year tenure, whereas the Ibrahim Gusau-led board received a single N17bn intervention cheque. He used the difference to push for stricter financial accountability.
While not disputing the figures, the former board explained that a massive portion of the N17bn went directly toward settling unpaid liabilities left behind by Pinnick’s administration.
Accordingly, key expenses included clearing a backlog in unpaid salaries for former coach José Peseiro, as well as settling long-overdue match bonuses and allowances for Super Eagles players dating back to the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
‘Of course, N17bn is a fairly tidy sum but don’t forget that the Gusau-led board inherited lots of debts from the previous board and one of those huge debts was the 23-month backlog of coach Jose Peseiro’s $70,000 USD a month salary. Peseiro’s unpaid salary alone gulped over a million dollars,’ a close confidant of the immediate past NFF President explained. ‘Unfortunately, this was the same salary that the previous board claimed had been bankrolled by Aiteo; but that was not the case, it was the Gusau board that cleared the mess.’
According to him, the humongous debts inherited from the Pinnick board also included outstanding match allowances and bonuses due to Super Eagles players dating back to the qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Stakeholders close to Gusau noted that Dikko served as Second Vice President under Pinnick, making it unfair to distance himself from previous financial decisions.
They maintained that receiving more funding isn’t proof of misconduct when the money was used to fix inherited problems.
‘Some of these clarifications are necessary because receiving more funding than a previous administration isn’t, by itself, evidence of anything improper,’ he said.
‘Rather, the question that matters is how it was applied and without any contradiction, the Gusau-led board used major part of that N17bn fund to clear the debts left by the Pinnick board.’
Former officials also highlighted the drastic drop in the Naira’s value. The N15bn received under Pinnick came when the dollar traded between N200 and N600, giving it far greater spending power. By the time the N17bn was released under Gusau, the rate had soared to N1,500 per dollar, severely reducing its actual value.
Despite the dispute over past debts, sports stakeholders praised President Bola Tinubu for stepping up funding to support national teams and stabilize sports administration.