The Minister of Sports, Tammy Danagogo, on Friday stated that Stephen Keshi is not indispensable as the Chief Coach of the Super Eagles.
The Minister, who appeared before members of the Senate Committee on Sports, said Keshi has not rejected the contract offered him by the Nigeria Football Federation and therefore remains the Chief Coach of the Super Eagles.
A member of the committee, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, had during the budget defence session of the Ministry of Sports asked Danagogo why the Ministry and the Nigeria Football Federation were bent on appointing Keshi as the national team’s coach despite his failure to qualify the Super Eagles for the last Nation’s Cup final, a similar offence that led to the sack of Samson Siasia years back.
Danagogo, in his response to the question, said: “The search for Chief Coach of the national team is not restricted to Keshi alone.
“But at the moment, he seems to be the one being focused upon by NFF which, in fact, has led to a fresh contract offered him in that respect, but that does not in anyway suggest that Keshi is indispensable.
“Appointing a Chief Coach for the national team is strictly a technical matter that should be looked at on empirical basis and which is directly under the purview of the NFF, expected to make the best use of technical staff at its disposal to carry out the exercise.
“Although for now, it is Keshi that has been picked by them, but the windows of scouting for the best are still there for them to explore, which are not restricted to Keshi.”
Responding to a related question, the NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, denied the rumour making the rounds that Keshi had rejected the fresh contract offered him by declaring that there was no written letter from the coach to that effect.
Pinnick said: “For now, as far as the NFF is concerned, Keshi is the Chief Coach of the Super Eagles based on the fresh appointment we offered him to that effect, which he has not rejected as wrongly reported in the media.
“Correspondence should not be hearsay.
“It should be between employer and employee.
“As the employer of Keshi, NFF has not received any letter from him rejecting the new appointment offered him and on the basis of that, NFF strongly believes that he had accepted the offer and will resume very soon in view of serious engagements ahead of the Super Eagles, one of which is the international friendly match with the South African national team coming up on the 29th of this month, preparatory to Nation’s Cup and World Cup qualifiers coming up months ahead.”
Pinnick explained that the fresh appointment offered Keshi is largely based on the template of the former, which gives him N5 million as monthly basic salary, official residence in Abuja and some other ancillaries in form of attractive allowances.
Trending
- APC settles quarrel between senator, council boss
- Coalition kicks against invasion of Bello’s residence without formal invitation
- Reps committee worried as Ebonyi repossesses EBSUTH
- Air Peace: Why our Lagos bound flight made ‘emergency’ landing
- FG to resume resurfacing of Third Mainland Bridge – Works Controller
- Why new minimum wage announcement on May Day not feasible – TUC president
- Dunamis ‘celebrity’ testifier, Vera Anyim seeks Nigerians support for a secure accommodation
- Eve’s Desire: Height difference and how it affects sex between partners, by Tiwa Says