NFF to borrow cash for Ethiopia game

NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari
| credits: www.newnigeriannewspapers.com

The Nigeria Football Federation will again have to borrow for next weekend’s 2014 World Cup playoff against Ethiopia, officials disclosed on Wednesday.

Available statistics suggest that the NFF will need at least N50m for the November 16 playoff for a place at next year’s World Cup in Brazil. It was explained that the cost has been reduced because of the part sponsorship from the Cross River State government.

This will be to cover match bonuses as well as the return ticket refunds for the team and also logistical costs.

“We will again be forced to borrow to fund this match,” a top NFF official said.

“We are seriously broke as we only receive a monthly subvention of N52m from government and this is far from adequate to cover our many costs.”

MTNFootball.com was told by officials that NFF finances took a direct hit when the over N700m spent for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations was removed from the federation’s annual budget by government.

“It was to have been a special grant but government later decided it should come from our budget,” another top official said.

But The PUNCH investigation has shown that another major reason the federation is reeling in debt is because one of their major partners owes them a huge part of their sponsorship money. The figure is put at about N170m.

 A very top official of involved with sports administration in Nigeria who is very conversant with the debt profile of the NFF told our correspondent that the football administrators are finding it tough getting the money from the partners for reasons unknown. The huge debt also explains why the federation is yet to pay the Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi his salary in full.

He said, “If they are able to get the money they should be able to pay Keshi and the other coaches their salaries. From what has been explained the wait for the balance has become quite long for them (NFF). They are hopeful that the cash should come from their partner with the final round of the World Cup qualifiers.

“They have just been diplomatic about the debt issue because they are partners and they have been together for quite some time now.”

Nigeria have a foot at Brazil 2014 after they beat hosts Ethiopia 2-1 in the first leg of the playoffs last month in Addis Ababa. A draw is enough to see Nigeria through to Brazil.