Odegbami angst NFF Secretary General Mohammed earns $10,000 (over N7million) monthly
That a man that has performed so badly is earning so much for his ineptitude and incompetence should not just worry Odegbami but the President of Nigeria and the general public.
By
Olukayode Thomas
Football legend and media personality Segun Odegbami worries that the Secretary-General of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Sanusi Mohammed earn $10,000 (US Dollars), over N7 million in the black market rate, a month in basic wage.
Mohammed was appointed Secretary General of NFF by the immediate past president of the federation Amaju Pinnick.
At the best of times, the football administration in Nigeria always gives cause for concern but under Mohammed's administration has fallen to an abysmal level.
Mohammed’s years as the head of the NFF secretariat could best be qualified as the years of the locust.
That a man that has performed so badly is earning so much for his ineptitude and incompetence should not just worry Odegbami but the President of Nigeria and the general public.
After reading in a social media group he belongs to, Mohammed earns $10,000 (US Dollars) a month.
Odegbami wrote, “My first reaction was to dismiss it as ‘fake news’, that it could simply never be true. I could not wrap such a possibility around my head. How? When? How come? Where would such money come from? The implications of having such a situation exist will be too dire to even contemplate. How do we explain that?
“Secretary-General? Is that not the office held by football/sports administrators in Nigeria who became the toast of administration in Africa, and indeed the world? Orok Oyo, POC Achebe, Patrick Okpomo, and Sani Toro! Even foreign football administrators held these gentlemen in awe. Within CAF they were unofficial ‘consultants’ in football administrative matters. They were that good. Yet, they were all civil servants.
“The perks attached to their assignments were what made the big difference to their lives. Their office commanded respect and dignity that money could never buy.
“If the Secretary-General of a sports federation should earn this kind of wage, what does the federation itself earn? What work does the Secretary-General do to earn such? What do the other staff in the secretariat also earn, given that there is a whole army of them there?
“Is ‘administration of the secretariat’ one of the key ingredients identified in Jay Jay Okocha’s essentials for the development of ‘the footballer’ in the country? Is the ‘footballer’ not the key determinant factor in the success of every federation?
“Developing the footballer is the key. Everything should gravitate towards that objective for success to become a reality. If the NFF had the funds to pay its Secretary-General $10,000 a month, a foreign coach $70,000 a month, and undisclosed sums to fund federation bosses at the top, and their army of staff at the bottom, the federation should have the funds to fix basic facilities for the players to train and play games, for the coaches to build their knowledge and capacity, and to invest in something tangible that will yield dividends to sustain the federation’s activities.
“I am scanning my mind for even a single infrastructural development that has been undertaken by the federation in the past several decades. I am scanning the horizon for any program, any institution, a stadium, a hostel, a training ground, a gymnasium, a hotel, anything that can be referred to as investment towards football development for which funds were provided by FIFA, CAF, sponsorships, major revenue from competitions and even government subventions.
“Apart from funding competitions, what were the funds used for that could be described as ‘developmental’? “Since that bombshell-of-a-report, I have been trying some information gathering.
“FIFA and CAF have disbursed over $ 11 million US Dollars to Nigeria in ‘I don’t know how many years’. The Federal Government has allocated close to N12 billion naira to the federation in less than the past 8 years period. What happened to the FIFA-funded FIFA Goal Projects that were paid for by FIFA, providing development in other countries? Three training stadia were earmarked to be built around the country. Have the facilities been completed?
“I am asking questions now. My shock is that most people are ignorant of any facts. No one seems to know anything.
“There has been a feast ongoing in other aspects of football except in the area of football development.
“The players, active and retired, are suffering. Referees are suffering. Those of us in the business of sports are suffering. Club owners are suffering. Stadium stewards and stadium managers are suffering. The staff of the NIS are suffering.
“In Nigerian football, only those running football seem to be feeding fat. That’s the picture I get from the story of the office of the Secretary-General of any sports federation in Nigeria that earns a whopping $10,000 US Dollars a month, a wage that the President of the country does not earn.
“FIFA and CAF funds, earned or given as grants, sponsorship and marketing revenue, are not meant to be used to pay emoluments and private travelling expenses and allowances of officials.
“There must be a forensic audit of Nigeria’s football architecture . Nigerian football administration needs a complete overhaul, and the present set-up, if true, is demolished completely. The federal government must step in immediately and halt this under-development stalling our national sport.
“Now, we may have a good idea where the resources to develop our domestic football have been ‘draining’ into.”
