The Nigeria Football Federation has claimed that due to alleged financial difficulty, the salaries, allowances and bonus of players and coaches will be slashed as it also pulled Nigeria out of next year’s Championship of African Nations (CHAN) in South Africa due to the financial constrain.
According to an official statement released by the technical committee on Wednesday, the salary cut is a move that cannot be avoided as the financial situation of the federation is in a serious down slide.
An initial win bonus of $10, 000 has been withered down to $5,000, while national team coaches’ salaries are slashed by 50 per cent as well.
“The (technical) committee regretted the financial situation that has also necessitated the slashing match bonuses, allowances and salaries of coaches of several cadres of national teams in the country,”
The salary of Super Eagles Coach; Stephen Keshi, which was cut by 50 per cent, will have the African Cup of Nation winning coach, earn N2.5 million ($16,000), instead of the initial N5 million.
The federation also decided to cut down on the backroom staff and technical crew of the various national teams in its bid to cut expenditures.
“Based on the parlous financial situation that the Nigeria Football Federation currently finds itself, the committee has also recommended the staff auditing of the technical crew and backroom staff of all the national teams” the statement added.
The NFF technical committee has recommended the Super Eagles’ win bonus of $10,000 be reviewed downwards along with the salaries and allowances of the various national team coaches.
According to a top official of the NFF, at least half of their annual budget was spent on the recent Nations Cup in South Africa signalling the beginning of the federation’s financial woes forcing it to seek drastic solutions to keep the federation alive till the end of the year.