Minister set up super eagles bonus panel

The Minister of Sports Bolaji Abdullahi has
set up a panel to probe the crisis that
rocked the Super Eagles recently in Namibia
over match-win bonus.
The players had rejected the bonus of $
5,000 per person approved for them by
the Nigeria Football Federation after two
away games against Kenya and Namibia in
the 2014 World Cup qualifying series. The
protest staged in Namibia and
comprehensibly monitored by the world
football governing body FIFA ensured that
Nigeria arrived in Brazil less than 24 hours
to the start of the 2013 Confederations
Cup. The players refused to board the plane
for
Brazil until they got $10,000 instead of
$5,000. The players subsequently got $
10,000 for beating Tahiti at the
competition.
The NFF had announced they would pay $
5000 for a win and $2500 for a draw soon
after the Africa Nations Cup success citing
financial constraints as the reason for the
decision. The stalemate was reportedly
broken by the intervention of the Minister
who got additional funds to make up for
the shortfall proposed by the NFF.
The panel whose membership was made
public on Sunday will be chaired by Mr.
Segun Adeniyi. Adeniyi is Chairman of
Thisday Editorial Board and former Special
Adviser to late President Umar Yar'Adua. He
was also a member of the Presidential Task
Force, which was set up to ensure Nigeria's
qualification for the 2010 World Cup.
Other members of the panel are Onochie
Anibeze (Group Sports Editor, Vanguard);
Aisha Falode (of the CAF media committee);
Shehu Dikko (member of the League
Management Company) and Akin
Oshuntokun (a former MD of the News
Agency of Nigeria).
The terms of reference of the body include
determining the immediate and remote
causes of the crisis and develop a code of
conduct for players on national
assignments. The panel will be inaugurated
on Thursday in Abuja and has two weeks
to submit its report from that date.
The mode of investigation and interviews
with the players were not specified on
Sunday. The minister who spoke with The
PUNCH after the names were released on
Sunday said the ministry is not arranging
any trip abroad for the members.
He said, "We don't have that kind of money
that would enable trips abroad to meet
with players. In this modern era there are
several ways of effectively communicating
to get evidences without any trip. I believe
the members will use several of these
methods to get the facts they need for this
job."

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