Super Eagles bonus row: Panel indicts NFA, players

The Ministerial Panel on “Review of Players’ Bonuses” on Thursday in Abuja indicted players and the technical crew of the Super Eagles over the recent bonus row that broke out in the team.
The Minister of Sports, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, had on July 11 inaugurated the seven-member panel.
The panel was set up to unearth the causes of the bonus row, which broke out after a World Cup qualifier between the Super Eagles and the Brave Warriors of Namibia.
The players had insisted on their full winning bonus of $5,000 (about N805,000) in spite of drawing the match in Namibia, while the NFA offered them $2,500 (about N402,500).
The panel was headed by Segun Adeniyi, former Special Adviser to late President Umaru Yar’Adua, while Shehu Dikko served as its secretary.
Adeniyi, while presenting the report to Abdullahi, said mutual distrust by the parties concerned and indiscipline on the part of some players sparked the row.
He said that lack of quality leadership by those in charge of the players’ affair at the time of the crisis, which broke out in Namibia, also contributed to the row.
The former presidential aide pointed out that officials of the Nigeria Football Association; Eagles Captain, Joseph Yobo; and six home-based players were spoken to before the conclusion of the report.
Adeniyi said: “One thing was clear from all the submissions made to our panel and the interactive session we held with critical stakeholders.
“This is, that the Super Eagles, who were handsomely rewarded by Nigerians for winning the Africa Cup of Nations in February, could not appreciate the implication of embarrassing their country.
“The technical crew members conveniently looked the other way because of their own pecuniary and vested interests.
“The football administration was also tardy in the manner in which it handled communication on the bonus issue by not formally conveying its decisions to the players ahead of the tournament.”
Adeniyi criticised a situation where players put incentive first rather than see invitation to the national team as a privilege and honour.
He expressed regret that bonus payment had over the years been mismanaged by all the parties, involved resulting in avoidable crises that had desecrated the image of the country.
He said: “From the 1994 World Cup qualifying matches to the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Mali, to the recent case in Namibia, bonus row has been a recurring challenge for our football administration.
“I want to say that the real incentive for any footballer invited to the national team is principally the privilege and pride of wearing the national colours of his or her country.
“This is to the extent that bonus payment should really not be an issue.
“In most countries, it is usually determined by the football administration according their financial standing and the importance of the matches at hand.”
Abdullahi said the embarrassment the country got from the bonus row was unimaginable.
He, therefore, commended the panel for a job well-done and said that the report would be transmitted to President Goodluck Jonathan for his attention.
Meanwhile, sports analyst, Jide Fashikun, has urged the sports minister not to implement the report of the panel on the bonus row.
Fashikun observed that the report, if implemented, could tear the team’s World Cup qualifying campaign apart.
He noted that the report, which contained “Code of Conduct for Players”, was capable of infuriating foreign-based players, who would form the nucleus of the World Cup qualifying team.
Victor Iroele, another sports analyst, advised the minister to delay the implementation of the report until the end of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Iroele noted that any conclusion reached without the input of players such as Mikel Obi, Vincent Enyeama, Joseph Yobo and Emmanuel Emenike, among others could be counter-productive.