The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) yesterday at the House of Representatives Committee on Sports presented a budget defense for a total sum of N2,084,053,765 (Two Billion, Eighty Four Million, Fifty-Three Thousand, Seven Hundred and Sixty Five Naira) for the participation of the Super Eagles in the Brazil 2014 World Cup.
But the General Secretary of the NFF Barrister Musa Amadu who led the Football House presentation pleaded that the House of Rep Committee on Sports should assist the NFF in approving the needed sum while noting that with what the Federal Government has approved for release for the team’s participation, the NFF will be running into a budget deficit of about N829,893,436 (Eight Hundred and Twenty Nine Million, Eight Hundred and Ninety Three Thousand, Four Hundred and Thirty Six naira), pleading that the house committee should intervene to enable the Super Eagles to play well and represent the not only the country well but the African continent.
Amadu submitted that the budget will cover the payment of the Super Eagles’ players and officials’ allowances, winning bonuses up to the quarter-finals stage, accommodation and others.
According to Amadu’s breakdown of the budget, the NFF has reverted back to the earlier $10,000 as match bonus for the senior national team in the group stages of the World Cup. The Eagles will also receive $12,500 and $15,000 if they qualify for the round of sixteen and the quarter-finals stage respectively.
Like the players, the federation also reverted to pay the chief coach, Stephen Keshi, $20,000 winning bonus at the group stage, while his three assistants will receive $15,000 each. Also Keshi’s winning bonus will be raised to $22,500 and $25,00 when the Eagles qualifies for the round of 16 and quarter-finals stage respectively, while his three assistants winning bonus as well as other officials in the team will also be increase at the same 25% for the stages.
Amadu in his presentation to the House Committee on Sports said, “Considering the good performance of the Nigeria Football Federation last year, I would have seen a situation where the federation is asked to take a bow and go, but I also see the significance in asking the NFF to speak particularly on its tremendous outings last year. “With the budget we have this year, we expect to surpass our performance last year. Everybody knows that we went to the African Nations Cup last year. Nobody gave us a chance but by the grace of God and the support of government, we won the AFCON. We also won the U17 World Cup for the fourth unprecedented time in the United Arab Emirates, the Super Eagles also qualified for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil for the fifth time, with other trophies which the various national teams won at various levels. Nigeria has also played top quality international friendly matches.”
“For the World Cup, the budget we have is N2, 084,053,765 and from what we envisaging, government may likely gives us N1, 254,160,329. So there will be a shortfall in this World Cup budget to the tune of N829, 839,436 and the way we look at it this amount the government is bringing N1.2b will only take the Super Eagles to the round of 16 match in terms of the bonuses to paid, air ticket, estacodes, preparation and the rest of it.
“Then it means of course that we will have a budget deficit to the world cup that is why we are placing this budget before the house committee to have a look at it because the strategy is for us to go beyond any other African country in Brazil, which is the quarterfinal state. If we get the budget that we have put together, Nigeria will be able to do not only ourselves proud but also the African continent.
“I want to say that there some money that are due to Nigeria from FIFA for the world cup preparation, part of that money has come to us and we are utilizing it to prepare the super eagles for the world cup. We do envisage also that when the world cup takes place, the minimum money that will be generated by the NFF for participation will be about $8m.
“But when you remove taxes, it come to about $7m that the NFF will receive. The minimum guarantee for the participation in the world cup is $8m for any country that goes through the group stage, but of course if you go the round of 16 or the quarterfinals, it goes higher. In the last world cup in 2010, we were guaranteed $8m but eventually we receive about $6.5m after tax deductions from FIFA.
“So Mr. Chairman, this is the budget summary for 2014 FIFA world cup in Brazil, we are believing that with the support of the house and the federal government, we should be able to go to the World Cup and do Nigeria proud”, The NFF General Secretary explained in details. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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