With $500,000 from FIFA this July, NFF and Pinnick still chose to disgrace Nigeria

Football insiders have argued the non-payment of match bonuses to Super Falcons which led to the players’ boycott of training, and international embarrassment for Nigeria could have been averted.

The consensus is that if the NFF had used the $500,00 grant it received from FIFA early in July 2022 to pay our girls while the governing body of football in Nigeria wait for the release of funds by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, the sad episode that painted Nigeria in bad light yet again would have been averted.

A football insider told 234sportsng.com correspondent that, ‘’ what the NFF did could be as a result of pure greed or deliberate attempt to embarrass the Federal Government.

“A few days before WAFCON, they received the second instalment of FIFA 2.0 annual One million dollars grant from FIFA. The first payment usually comes in January every year and the second in July. The second instalment for 2022 was paid a few days before the WAFCON I don’t understand why they did not use the money to pay the girls and save Nigeria from international embarrassment’.  

The Super Falcons who endorsed Amaju Pinnick’s third term ambition, are now the same people who have taken up arms against the same man demanding they be paid a bonus of at least $10,000 each for their run in the WAFCON tournament in Morocco.

The Super Falcons refused to train on Wednesday despite verbal promises they would be paid.

By their agreement with the NFF, a win in the group stage will earn each player $3,000, while a player will also be paid $4,000 for victory in the quarterfinal.

The nine-time African champions won two group games – vs Botswana and Burundi – to give each player $6,000, while the 1-0 win over Cameroon in the quarterfinal guaranteed a player $4,000.

It was further gathered that they were only paid daily allowances for 10 days instead of 20 days.

Muhammed Sanusi NFF will not confirm or deny the grant from FIFA, but he told 234sportsng.com correspondent to contact the NFF Finance Director or Director of Communications, Ademola Olajire but efforts to reach both were abortive.

 But Olajire in chat on Thursday wrote  "A $100 daily allowances for 10 days, totalling $1,000 and the balance of daily allowances have been paid by the NFF on Wednesday night.

"The money paid by the NFF is not part of win-bonus payments," he said.

As at the time Olajire was writing, the damage had been done. The international embarrassment was so much that  Nigerian National Petroleum Company {NNPC Limited) had to step in to settle outstanding bonuses and allowances of the Super Falcons to enable them to concentrate on the third-place match.

 NNPC Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, agreed to bail the Amaju Pinnick and NFF, out following the intervention of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva.

As at the time of filing this report, it is not known how much the NNPC Limited would release to clear the outstanding bonuses and allowances.

While the players are begging for their  allowances, FA Chairmen took up the offer of an all-expense-paid trip to the WAFCON in Morocco, as well as other critical Stakeholders have enjoyed a ‘good time’ on the ticket of Pinnick.

This will be the third pay scandal between the country’s women’s team and the NFF under Pinnick.

The team first protested for several weeks when the NFF failed to pay them for winning the 2016 WAFCON in Cameroon.

They also staged another pay strike at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France. 

At the 2019 Women's World Cup in France, the players staged another sit-in protest over unpaid salaries and bonuses after their Round of 16 elimination by Germany.

Each Super Falcons player in Morocco is entitled to a $100 daily allowance, $3,000 for each group stage win and $1,500 for a draw.

Following a recent payment review, the players can also expect $5,000 for their win in the quarter-final, but they will miss out on proposed payments of $7,000 and $10,000 for victories in the semi-final and final respectively